


Dangan Ronpa 2.0.1: The Jabberwock 20

by UltimateProtagonistNerd



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa Zero, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Additional Players, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Backstory, Gen, Murder Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-08-16 14:45:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8106361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateProtagonistNerd/pseuds/UltimateProtagonistNerd
Summary: Instead of 16 players, there are 2020 students in a Mutual Killing Game on Jabberwock IslandHow much more Hope... or Despair, will they bring?





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The School Trip is ruined when Monokuma called the students to Jabberwock Park on the Central Island and unveils his newest game, "The Killing School Trip" and his new minions, the Monobeasts.

**Monokuma Theatre**  
Upupupupu! What if I told you something that would blow your mind? And what if I told you that that thing was that there were actually 20 people in the Hope's Peak Academy Class 77?

Er, there may have been more of them at one point, but some of them kinda died. Sorry about that. If they had survived I would have made them a part of this too!

Well, that is actually all true you know! Just Google it! And this is the story of the 20 survivors being put onto Jabberwock Island for the Killing School Trip of Despair!

And this concludes the Monokuma Theatre! The story will now continue for your reading pleasure!

\------------------------------------

This was supposed to be a peaceful vacation, according to "Magical Girl Miracle Usami", the self-proclaimed teacher of Hope's Peak Academy Class 77. They were to spend the next 50 days on this island being friendly towards each other and gathering "Hope Fragments". The illusion of that was shattered in an instant when the skies darkened above the beaches, the sea turning grey, and a voice crackling out of the speaker of the nearby monitor.

"Mic check! Mic check! Is this thing on? Ah yes, ahem. All students must gather in the park on the Central Island, effective immediately! Don't be late!"

The students all froze up hearing the out of place, playful sounding speech coming from someone that none of them could even see at the moment. Usami's reaction was one of panic, fear and desperation, causing her to collect her magic wand and scurry quickly ahead of any of the others. It seemed like she knew exactly who the voice belonged to, and didn't like it at all.

Hajime Hinata (Ultimate ???) and Nagito Komaeda (Ultimate Lucky Student) followed behind after the other students took the course of rushing after their teacher to investigate. Even Byakuya Togami, who was surprisingly fast for a man of his size.

Once all there the class experienced a spectacle like no other. Usami cried out repeatedly for the voice to show itself. And when it's owner did arrive, they arrived in an instant puff of smoke from in front of the central park's large bronze statue. A black and white bear with a jagged red eye on one side of his face arrived. They soon learned that his name was Monokuma, and he gathered them all there for a "very special" reason.

\----------------------------------

The 20 students stood and exchanged glances with one another in the tense atmosphere of Jabberwock Park. This bear, claiming to be their headmaster, has set up a "game" in which the only way to escape was to murder one of their fellow classmates and get away with it. He then proceeded to say some magic words that caused the statue in the center of the park to transform into giant monsters and used them to kill off the rabbit who had claimed to be their teacher, Usami, for her defiance against him (but not before completely rendering her helpless, embarrassing her, and claiming her as his new "little sister", referring to her by the name 'Monomi'). This reality was nothing like the world that Hajime and the rest of his class had known just a short day ago.

The first to speak up was the Student Council President, Soshun Murasame, a bright, righteous, and well-organized young man with an honest looking face, truly he was befitting of his Ultimate Title. "Let's all calm down! Killing each other? Don't be absurd! We are the students of the Prestigious Hope's Peak Academy! And as long as I am the Student Council President, I'll promise you that!" He exudes confidence even now, just has he had when introducing himself to his classmates earlier in the day.

The rest of the class seemed like they were less sure than him, murmurs of worry coming from many of them, after the screams of despair had subsided. "A-are y-you sure?" stammered a smaller boy towards the back. He was Ryota Mitarai, the Ultimate Animator, still freaking out about the appearance of the maniacal stuffed bear. Earlier on, he had been timid but today's events clearly have strained his emotional state even further.

Adding his voice of reason to the mix, the Heir to the Togami Family and the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, Byakuya Togami cleared his throat. "Yes. Murasame is quite right about that. There will be no killing from us. Or so my name isn't Byakuya Togami! I swear it on my family's name!" And from behind him, his more light-hearted older sister, Shinobu agreed with him. "Yeah, so you can suck it, you dumb plushie. Our family is going to find out about this!" she then looked nervously over at Byakuya, who gave her a nod with his arms crossed, communicating his agreement and approval of her statement.

Monokuma whined in a dissapointed tone, "Ooooh, you bastards are no fun! Talk about a buncha sticks in the mud. Even after I put on my show with the Monobeasts, you guys still have the gall to... gah!" Then, the headmaster's tone shifted to a more devious sounding one "You guys just need a little 'push in the right direction'" Though his eyes never move, there appeared to be a glint in them, and the students could practically see the wheels turning in his mind. "And the ball will definitely get rolling!" He now sounded practically joyous about it, sending yet more shudders down each students spine. "Upupu, just you wait!"

And with that, he and his "Monobeasts" finally flew off into the sky, disappearing and leaving his students alone, and one-by-one, the students all returned to their cottages slowly. And Hajime could hear the nearby Neurologist, Yasuke muttering under his breathe. "Fucking... goddamn it..."

And with that Hajime tried his best to sleep in his bed, but thoughts of Monokuma, Monomi, the Monobeasts, murder, betrayal, the possibility of the people around him concocting secret plots... and the despair these caused all swirled within his head, keeping him awake for just about the entire night. And yet, even despite the horror show that his life had now become, the other students standing up in to that despair planted just a small seed of hope. And he hoped the others felt it too.

He got so little sleep from all the activity inside his thoughts, he didn't even remember closing his eyes when he found himself opening them again and staring up at his monitor suddenly crackling to life with static before it switched to an image of the bear from last night sitting by the poolside with a drink in his hands.

"Ah, uh, okay. This is an announcement from Hope's Peak Field Trip Executive Committee. It is now 7 AM! It is a perfect tropical day! So, let's enjoy it for all it's worth!"

 [SURVIVING STUDENTS: 20/20]

[END OF PROLOGUE]


	2. Ch. 1: Don't Count Your Chickens... Daily Life Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is day number 2. The first meeting of students for breakfast and planning happens occurs. A mysterious timer counts down, and Monokuma provides a motive for the students. Their school memories have been stolen! Not only that, but there's also a traitor among them as well! Can anybody on this island be trusted?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For right now I'm not going to any free time events in this story because I want to get through the plot quickly. However, this story will not be without Free Time Events. I'm still thinking about how to incorporate them but right now my "Plan A" is to write new Free Times with the 4 additional players, and I'll add them on at the end of the story. I hope nobody minds missing out on those for the time being.

Hajime shot up, fully awake after processing the fact that Headmaster Monokuma was real. By extension that meant that the rest of last night had been real as well. "So much for the 'bad dream' hypothesis..." he muttered while he crawled out of bed and left his cabin. If the morning announcement has already played then it was safe for him to assume that everyone else on the island was woken up by it as well, if they weren't fully up and running prior to it playing. He looked around the rows of cabins for anybody else, and he heard the voices of two people standing in the doorway of the cabin a few doors down from his own on the boys' side.

"Look, I don't want to fucking go either, but if you want to be in the know then we have to head to this meeting thing. I don't give a shit if you never come to one of these things ever again, but Soshun is going to hound me to death unless I bring everyone to this first one... And I don't want to have to deal with him any more than I need to." Hajime recognized this first voice as Yasuke. And sure enough upon turning his head in its direction he recognized the taller boy, who's hair was like a much longer, messier version of his own.

"Tch. Asshole." grunted the other voice, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, "Fine. You've got me on board for just this time." The short yakuza then stepped foot outside and closed the door behind him. The two now faced toward Hajime's direction and noticed him almost immediately.

"Hey, we've all been ordered to meet at breakfast in the mornings! Come join us." called Yasuke, motioning for Hajime to tag along with him as the went by the poolside and climbed up the stairs to the Hotal Mirai's restaurant. "This is shorter than going into the lobby, trust me." the neurotic neurologist implored to the others, not wanting to waste any time in getting to the destination. As they entered they heard another voice.

"We will not begin until everybody is present." said Byakuya Togami, flanked on each side by the secretary Shinobu and the Class President Soshun.

"Huh, are we missing somebody Mr. Ham Hands?" asked Hiyoko.

Byakuya sighed, looking down at the floor before glancing back up to see that Yasuke had returned and was accompanied by Hajime and Fuyuhiko. After a brief second to count heads he answered the Dancer's query. "Yes, we are still short one. Kazuichi Souda is not among us right now."

Peko raised a hand to rest on her chin, recollecting a memory. "I saw him earlier. He was running out of the hotel complex's front gates screaming about how much he needed to find a way to escape."

The whole room could hear Hiyoko giggling at that.

Standing next to her was Mahiru Koizumi, who sighed and rubbed her temples. "Alright, I'll go find him and drag him back here."

"Much appreciated!" Soshun saluted her as she passed by him to leave the restaurant and reel Kazuichi back before he could go and get himself killed on accident. Nothing changed much in the restaurant in the time it took Mahiru to return with her target, literally pulling him by the ear like in a cartoon.

Hiyoko chuckled more, hand covering most of her grin "Looks like Big Bro Kazuichi is a big pussy"

Kazuichi looked around at his surrounding, tears in his eyes and he sniffed. "I-i, sorry guys."

Byakuya huffed. "It's fine. Just don't pull something like that ever again. Do you understand me?"

Kazuichi nodded, wiping his face with his sleeves. "Yeah. I get it." And then he got back to his usual cheerful demeanor.

Soshun clapped his hands, startling a formerly hunched over Ryota, who had appeared to have been working on sketches before the loud noise had interrupted his focus. "Aaaaah" he wailed out. That is until he got shushed by Byakuya and told to stop and just pay attention to the meeting that was now taking place. "G-g-got it!" the shy boy managed to stutter out. Hajime couldn't help but notice that there was a reassuring smile that flashed across Byakuya's face before the larger man went back across the room to his sister and the president. Or maybe that was Hajime's imagination? He couldn't tell, but had no time to be distracted by things like that.

"Greetings fellow students. As many of you may already know by now, my name is Soshun Murasame."

"Can we get to the point already? I'm getting hungry and there's all this food that I'm not being allowed to touch..." Akane whined at the president.

Byakuya returned a stern look. "Akane, I understand your feelings, but please don't interrupt. That will only prolong this discussion." And with a sigh, the starving gymnast agreed with him.

"Now then..." Soshun cleared out his throat. "I had spoken with Mr. Togami and his secretary before I went to bed last night, and the three of us have decided... that to band together we must to ONE thing!"

Nagito Komaeda pondered this for a brief moment before his face lit up in excitement. "Are you talking about... strengthening our bonds?"

Soshun shook his head, indicating this was not the answer he was looking for. "Although that is definitely a good suggestion Nagito. That topic was not the main focus of Byakuya and I's conversation! No, what we need is leadership!"

Byakuya nodded in concurrence. "So that is why we decided that we must form an oversight committee of sorts. To ensure that not one of us falls victim to this so-called "Killing Trip" that he wants us to get involved with."

Nekomaru stood, nodding strongly in agreement. "This is a good idea. Every team needs not just one coach, but sometimes even a whole team of coaches!"

Byakuya spoke up again. "Which is why Shinobu, Soshun, and myself have decided that we will take up the positions of Secretary, President, and Vice President. We don't need a treasurer for this council, seeing as the only money used on this island has that one's pawprints all over it. So we shouldn't get involved with that."

The rest of the students grudgingly agreed, accept for Nagito, who seemed to be really content about the choices that were already made for the class.

Soshun then stepped up in front of the other two. Hajime noted that Shinobu wasn't do much of the talking, and that discussion was dominated by her brother and the president. Soshun cleared his throat. "Now, for the first order of business, we all need to head over to the Park. Byakuya has informed me that he found something important while out on his morning walk today."

And with that, he headed out and the students piled out after him.

\---------------------

 Once in the park, Byakuya and the Student Council stood in front of the other 17 students. "Jeez. For a bunch of skinny people you sure are slow, you know that?"

A groan could be heard in the middle of the pack. "Can we please just get to the damn point already?" The groan, and subsequent complaint, was levied from the mouth of Yasuke Matsuda. "I don't want to waste my time getting lectured, so let me just point it out for the duller among us." His finger than shot up to where the statue had been the night before, right behind Byakuya's back. "In place of the statue we saw yesterday, there is now some kind of bomb sitting in the middle of this very park.

"A-a-a bomb?!" several of the students screamed.

"Does th-this mean we're all g-going to die?" Ryota asked, on the verge of tears.

Byakuya sighed. "Look, Yasuke. Don't spread any more panic than there is here. We aren't even sure that this is a bomb to begin with."

"Right, okay." he put up his hands in a mocking gesture of surrender. "But we also don't know that it's not a bomb either, right? So it very well could be!" And with that, he turned his back on them and started to walk away from the group. "If you need me I'll be in my cabin."

"W-wait!" Hajime called out, but Yasuke ignored him, leaving the entire group behind without so much as looking back at them over his shoulder, disappointing Hajime. He thought for sure that Yasuke would listen to him for a moment.

"Tsk, tsk." Byakuya mumbled to himself. "Okay, so now that he's gone off elsewhere... anyone else have any objections that I need to hear about?"

The rest of the group stayed silent, none of them knowing what to say after the outburst that had just occurred. It wasn't long before they started thinking of leaving. However, a certain someone appeared yet again.

"Uwaaa, was there an argument here? And I couldn't resolve it? I really am a bad teacher uwawa!"

The students sat, completely dumbfounded. "H-how did you?"asked Ibuki asked, seemingly starting to foam at the mouth.

"Hmm? You guys look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Ah, so that's what you are... you're spirit has returned to haunt us from the grave... BEGONE FOUL DEMON!" shouted Gundam Tanaka at what he assumed was the ghost of their former teacher.

"What?! No... you guys! Listen!" Monomi (formerly Usami) insisted. "I can never die! I'm your teacher!"

"Ah, so you've got spare copies?" Akane wondered out loud.

"S-spare!? Why are you guys so mean to me?..."

"Okay, just forget about that." Shinobu said, finally talking to snap a question at Monomi. "Do you know anything about that timer up there?"

"Timer?" Monomi looked up at where the statue once was and her face went some sad to frozen with fear. "N-no. I'm sorry. I don't know what that even is... I let you guys down. If only I had my magic wand still... but that big meanie Monokuma broke it and now its useless!"

After that Monomi left after being hounded by the student council some more at blubbering about how she's just trying to help them, but nobody seemed to trust her at all.

Ryota spoke up. "Don't you guys think that was... that we were a little bit harsh on her?"

Byakuya hummed. "Perhaps. But now is not the time to be thinking about that. It's time that we all head back to our cabins for the day." And with that, the rest of Class 77 dispersed.

\-----------------

After spending the day walking around the first island and talking to a couple of friends, Hajime went back to his cabin. After sitting on the edge of his bed for a short period, the monitor in his room flickered on again, plastered with the image of the mascot-like bear that put them all in this situation.

"This is an urgent announcement from the Hope's Peak Field Trip Executive Committee. The fun you all have been waiting for is about to begin! I wonder what festivities await you? ...Oops, don't want to ruin the surprise! But anyway, please come to Jabberwock Park."

"Did he just tell us... to go to the park? It's the middle of the night..." goosebumps ran up and down Hajime. "Damnit, what is it now!?"

He ran down to the park, knowing that it was pointless to defy the orders of Monokuma. When he got there, he was greeted with the sight of all of the other students were standing around in front of a large stage.

"Once again, you're late. Did you lose your nerves?" Byakuya turned and asked Hajime as soon as he showed up. "...Anyway, it seems that everyone is here now."

"Ugh, what is it this time? So friggin' annoying" Kazuichi complained.

"Tch. Then you shouldn't have come."

"Well, I mean... I don't know what'll happen if I *don't* come."

Fuyuhiko smirked. "Heh. Since none of us know what'll happen if you don't, then maybe you should be the one to test it out?"

"Hey! You may talk like you're tough, but you wouldn't be here if you weren't scared too!" Mahiru interjected herself into the discussion.

"What."

"I guess even a big bad Yakuza like you must've been scared of that monster, huh?"

"What the fuck did you just say!?"

Nagito put himself between the two. "S-stop it you two. Fighting among friends isn't good!"

"What?" Fuyuhiko asked, "Did you just say 'friend'? I'm not your friend, dumbass!"

Soshun then added himself to the mix. "That's enough. That's enough out of all of you. As president I order you to stop fighting."

The Yakuza snapped back at him. "Since when do I have to listen to you bastard? I can really do it if I wanted, you know."

"What was that you just said?" the president asked.

"You heard me. I can do it."

Most of the class froze up instantly, realizing what it was he was talking about. Murder. Fuyuhiko was threatening them with murder.

The silence was ended by Yasuke, who had been unusually quiet since arriving. "So, when's this asshole "headmaster" of ours even going to show up anyway?"

"I'm right here you bastards!" Monokuma shouted as he appeared on stage. "I was just preparing my "Side-Splitting Two Man Comedy Show!"

"Um, don't you have to have two men to do a two man show?" Princess Sonia asked.

"That's why I brought my partner!"

"Uwawa, what is this?!" Monomi cried. "Do I have to improvise?"

"That figues..." sighs Nekomaru

\--------------------------

And with that, the so-called "comedy show" began. The stuffed animals introduced themselves. Monokuma claimed he could read minds, and said he'd use it to guess Monomi's favorite food. Which he said was... cadavres. Monomi cried at this suggestion. Nothing was new with how these two acted, but this show would prove much less predictable than this opening act would lead the students to believe.

Monomi was then forced into the spotlight by Monokuma, who implored her to do a short skit, and wanted to "help" her by using a blood sacrifice to summon the god of comedy (aka The Comedeity) and then... he said it.

"You guys better be careful too. Ya know, since Monomi's actually a bad guy! She's as bad as the first villain the hero fights in a teen manga!"

"They're always the underdog!"

"Believe me, it's a fact that Monomi is a villain. I'll let you all in on a little secret of hers... Monomi went out of her way to remove your memories!"

"Say what!? Wait... huh?"

"You guys don't even remember how you got to this island, am I right? That's because Monomi stole your memories!"

"Wh-what are you saying all of a sudden?!"

Monokuma continued on, "And not just the boring ones either, like how you got to this island. She also stole your memories of your time at Hope's Peak Academy! Who even knows how long it's been? Could be months, or it could be a few years! Quick, someone call a plagiarist, because I feel like I've heard this story before."

"Seriously, this is bad in so many ways!" Monomi shrieked. Monokuma hit her, saying that he was through with her as he did so, sending her flying back with his backhand smack.

If the situation was unbelievable and horrifying before this point, it just kept getting worse. Stolen memories? Possibly years worth of them? Nothing made sense, Hajime and everyone else just got more panicked by this news.

Byakuya and Soshun, they stayed as calm as possible though. "Hey... what were you saying just now?"

"What was I saying just now... oh! You mean when I was saying all of your school memories have been stolen?"

Ibuki steepled her fingers together nervously. "Aha... hahaha, there's no way..."

"Our school memories were stolen? That's ridiculous!"

"That's right! There's no way I have memory loss!"

"I refuse to believe such a thing... yup. Everything's okay. I refuse to believe it."

"Y-you're lying right, stealing our memories? That's a lie, right?"

Monokuma gave the students questioning him a small laugh. "If it was a lie, then how do you explain this? When you walked in the front door of Hope's Peak Academy... you all experienced a strange dizziness. That was your cut-off point."

It got worse from here. Monokuma used this claim as his "bargaining point" and said that if the students wanted to have their memories returned, then they had to be willing to kill for them.

Byakuya got angered. "Do you really think that your delusional ramblings will get any of us to commit murder?"

Alongside him in righteous fury was the president. "Yeah! We are students of Hope's Peak! You can't force us into this kind of... this kind of despair!"

"Oh.. do you guys _really_ believe in each other though?"

Mahiru gasped out her words, "Wh-what do you mean by that?!"

"Well," Monokuma looked down, hands behind his back. "What I'm really getting at is that none of you know each other, well, except the Togami's maybe, but the thing is... there's actually a traitor among you! And you idiots didn't even notice it! Upupupu!"

It was now Fuyuhiko's turn to be completely wracked with disbelief, "What? This shit about traitors doesn't make any sense..."

Peko agreed with him. "It's obviously nonsense."

"No, for real you guys, how can you be certain?" Monokuma said, bearly containing his demented laughter. "You guys don't know anything about each other. You don't know each others true nature. That's why, if one of you is planning to kill somebody here, it would be impossible for any of you to know."

Hajime hoped desperately for somebody to stand up and argue against the bear. Nobody was coming to do that, even Soshun was staring off into space, shocked into a silence and forcing everyone else to be left with Monokuma's despair-inducing claims. He didn't stop pushing either of his two angles. He kept talking of distrust, lost memories, and traitors...

"And plus, if there really is a traitor among you... isn't that just gosh darn awful? Somebody like that. Pretending to be your ally, tricking all of you... It makes sense for someone like that to be killed, right? Better get ready for a preemptive strike! You've gotta find that person before they find you! Ahahahahaha!" And once more, the Headmaster took his leave from the students. Leaving them behind to stew in their emotions. This situation... this is a living hell that they were placed into.

"Is it true? I-is there really a traitor among us?" Mikan asked "Ah... i-i-it's not me by the way, I know I look suspicious but it's not me!"

Nekomaru looked around the group before yelling out. "Who is it?! Hurry up and show yourself!"

And now surprisingly, it wasn't Byakuya or Soshun that stood to take charge. This time it was Yasuke. "Oh come on. He's just saying shit like that because he wants to screw with our heads. It's a classic mind game that people like him like to play." He said while he raised his pointer finger and directed it at his own temple. "There's no way that there's a traitor. He just knows that the more crazy stuff he says, the more likely one of you fucking morons will get driven to do something regrettable." He continued on, "And that's not even because I trust any of you that I say that, I say it because I DON'T trust anyone. And should one of you idiots fall for this nonsense... I'm going to personally make you regret it." He sighed and kicked a nearby rock off to the side gently. "If you idiots need me, I'll be in my cabin for the rest of tonight. Later dipshits."

Teruteru was practically in a cold sweat, "That's right. There's no way I can believe it... Because there's no reason to believe it at all."

Peko looked sternly at their 'teacher' "Monomi... you would know, right?"

"Huh!?" that rabbit was shocked back into paying attention.

"Is what Monokuma said true? About our memory loss... and about the traitor?"

Monomi was clearly nervous. "Um... I mean... Everyone needs to look to the future... which is why we should stop looking to the past... Keep your eyes on the future! Let's do our very best!" And with that message, so too did Monomi leave the students.

_ding dong, bing bong_

"Ahem! Hope's Peak Field Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make. It is now 10 P.M. Please return to your rooms and relax. Let the sound of the ocean rock you gently to sleep. Now then, sweet dreams everyone! Good niiiiiight!"

Soshun finally spoke, easing back into things after a huddle with the Togami siblings. "Alright, let's call it a night here guys! Do not think about anything unnecessary! For we are meeting tomorrow morning as soon as Monokuma's announcement plays at 7 AM!" And after that, eveyone went back to their cabins. Hajime was left alone with his thoughts in the middle of the night when something suddenly hit him.

"...could it be... that the traitor is somebody that isn't like the others at all. Like somebody that doesn't even remember what their own talent was?"

\------------------

*Monokuma Theatre*

They say that anything is possible if you just put your mind to it! In my opinion though, they're entirely correct about that! See, unlike you measly humans, I am a bear. And bears like me are stronger not only physically, but mentally too, when compared to such measly, cowardly and weak specimen like the human race...

And that's why it is a scientific fact that as a bear, I can do anything that I want to!

\------------------

[SURVIVING STUDENTS: 20/20]

[END OF DAY 2]


	3. Ch. 1: Don't Count Your Chickens... Daily Life Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is day 3. The student council announces in the morning that tonight there will be a party for everyone to get their minds off of the killing game. They just need a place for the party to call home, and preparations to be made for that set-up.
> 
> But what happens when a murderer sets their plot to kill in motion while nobody pays any attention to what they are doing?

"Hmm, what's this letter doing on my doorstep?"

_It's going to happen tonight. Somebody is definitely going to kill someone._

"...This is... no, I can't let something like this happen... I'm... the president of the student council..."

\------------------

"Ah, uh, okay. This is an announcement from Hope's Peak Field Trip Executive Committee. It is now 7 AM! It is a perfect tropical day! So, let's enjoy it for all it's worth!"

Hajime forced himself to get up after the second day with a lack of sleep. Even if nobody every actually gets killed on this damn island it would still take a toll on Hajime's mental state. That's when he remembered it again, "right... I should go up to the restaurant now for the meeting. He didn't want to wait to see if the student council would chew anyone out for being late. If they would, he just didn't want it to be him.

Outside the cabins Hajime then ran into Nagito, who 'greeted' him with "Not everyone can be as strong as our Student Council... I've never had to think about overcoming anything before. It's not like I'd just run away from my problems, but... It's more like... I was just living my life without ever having to think about them. Even so, I was still able to live. But this is different..." and then his face seemed overcome with embarrassment. "Oh, sorry... I was being too negative, huh?"

"No, it's fine... I'm the same way as well." Hajime replied to the white haired boy.

"But now that we've talked, I feel assured again. Being loners won't get us anywhere. Which is why I think we should all help each other out. Also... I think we need to get stronger. An ordeal like this is what'll make us cling to hope."

"Y-yeah... you're probably right." Hajime agreed.

"Well, I'll be heading to the restaurant now."

Before Hajime managed to get inside of the restaurant he ran into a few of the girls waiting around outside of the pool. Mahiru informed him that she was having trouble sleeping as well, and planned to have a girls-only tea time later on. Next up was Hiyoko, who complained of the Council setting up their meetings so early in the morning, calling them selfish in the process and wishing she could just spend breakfast time in her cabin eating gummies, which caused Mikan to interrupt the conversation to comment on how unhealthy doing something like that was for people. Hiyoko got mad, and verbally abused "the ugly bitch" before leaving for the restaurant. And finally, Mikan seemed completely shocked that Hinata would return her morning greeting. Everybody on this island was so strange.

In the hotel lobby he ran into Nanami, who seemed content to be playing one of the arcade machines, he tried to get her attention, and she did respond... however her eyes never left the screen and her hands kept on striking the buttons and moving the joysticks even as she took time to speak to Hajime. Proving her status as the Ultimate Gamer by finishing the game before the two of them walked up the stairs and into the restaurant.

The meeting started out when the president stood up, kicking his chair back gently. "Alright everyone. The Student Council has an announcement... tonight, after Monokuma's nighttime announcement, we are to celebrate! That's right, we are going to throw a party for everyone!"

Ibuki danced with glee "Whooo! A party, this is just what Ibuki always wanted!"

"A-ah, I-I'll cook, that's right, as the Ultimate Chef, I'll give all of you the best damn meal anybody here has ever tasted!" Teruteru insisted, stirring up a little bit more excitement.

"But where will we be holding this party?" Mahiru asked.

Soshun nodded, "Yes, good question. Does anybody object to it being held right here in the Restaurant?"

"Um..." Nagito rose his hand as a way to ask permission to speak. "Couldn't we use that old building outside?" he suggested.

Byakuya contemplated this idea. "Hmm, maybe, we'd have to clean it out first, it's probably pretty dusty inside."

Nagito chuckled, pulling out a bundle of popsickle sticks. "See, one of these sticks has a red marking on it, so if we just draw these, the person who gets that red marked stick will be the person that gets assigned cleaning duty. Does that sound good?"

Yasuke sighed, tossing a book he was reading down onto the table near where he (rather rudely) set his foot on. "Honestly, I think that'd take too much work for one person. Let's just party in here, I see no problem with that, somebody would still need to clean up this place a bit before and afterwards. So everyone can be happy."

Nagito looked at him and smiled. "Ah yes Yasuke, that's a great idea. Thank you for being so smart and setting up a compromise!"

"Heh, whatever weirdo..." Yasuke scoffed.

And then all 20 of them drew there sticks, leaving Nagito with cleaning duty. Hajime decided to poke a little bit of fun at his friend. "Looks like you aren't so lucky after all!" Nagito grinned sheepishly at that.

Byakuya got the last word in. "Oh, and by the way. Your attendance is a must. You are not allowed to skip out. This is your one warning."

Everybody else then either left to their cabins or started the work they needed to do for the party coming tonight. Hajime decided to walk around the island again today in search of someone to hang out with for the day, and before he even knew it hours had passed, the sun had went down. He found himself inside the cabin again as the announcement went off. "Huh, it's that late already? Oh well, I'm not going to sleep, I've got a party to attend."

\-------------------

 Togami stopped him from entering the hotel just outside the front door, giving him a full-body pat down "Just to be sure he wasn't bringing any dangerous items into the building." Afterwards, he was greeted in the Hotel Lobby by Nagito, who was stood a few feet away from Chiaki who seemed to be doing another run on the arcade machine. "Ah, Hajime! How do you like it?"

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"I decorated the entire hotel lobby just for this party! And hehe... I even put some stuff upstairs in the restaurant as well!"

"Really? Even the restaurant?"

"Yep, I brought it from the supermarket! It took a really long time to set up all the balloons and the streamers."

"You're commendable Nagito."

"Yeah... thanks."

Hajime then moved on to start a conversation with Chiaki, but she seemed to know that he was coming due to overhearing him and Nagito.

"I'm worried about Monokuma showing up." she said.

He answered "If he finds out we're having a party, there's no way that he's going to leave us alone..."

"We gotta do something about it." she nodded to him. "I wonder if someone can do something about it."

He decided to walk upstairs in order to check on what was happening in the restaurant. There he saw Hiyoko.

"Ugh, that creep Byakuya used his ham-hands and rubbed all over my body, and he called it a body check. More like sexual harassment!"

"That's... not true. He did that to the guys too."

"Sooooo? I feel like he was getting frisky while frisking me."

"Eh?"

"Kyahahaha! I'm pretty in demand, you know!"

And a few other of the students complained of going through the same body check that he and Hiyoko had gone through. Such as Kazuichi, who said of the scenario: "Man, that was so uncomfortable... being so thouroughly groped by another man was like my worst nightmare... plus, he got super pissed off at me when he found out I was carrying my wrench with me. Seriously... how freaking annoying..."

"It's your fault for having the wrench in the first place." Hajime pointed out to him.

"I just happened to find it at the airport. Carrying it around helps calm me down. But... Byakuya put it in that duralumin case of his.

It was completely pointless for him to even try to speak to Akane right now, she was drooling buckets worth just staring at the food that had been placed on the tables. However, also standing by the food was Gundam. Hajime had better luck getting a response out of him.

"Hehehe. Even though that man is a lowly worm. It appears that his cooking skills are most impressive, indeed... Nevertheless, even his food cannot stand against the gourmet cuisine of the multiverse..."

At long last, the Student Council made their way through the the doors of the restaurant. "Thank you all for waiting." spoke the voice of the Ultimate Affluent Progeny. "Teruteru is still cooking some more in the kitchen, and Fuyuhiko and Yasuke apparently didn't come."

"U-u-uh, I'm... so sorry, I tried to persuade them to come but neither wanted to listen to me." Ryota muttered.

"It's not like you need to apologize Ryota, It's their fault for not coming. But please do show a little more spine next time, okay?" Mahiru assured him at the same time that she berated him, making for an odd mixture of feelings.

"Y-yes ma'am, I won't be so disappointing next time.".

"We explicitly said that attendance was mandatory, but... two people missing out..." he seemed perplexed on whether or not two people being absent would have any negative consequences. "It shouldn't be too bad this time around. After all we will have guards positioned outside, so they wouldn't be able to do anything. But... more importantly..." Byakuya froze in place. "What is that?" he pointed to several long skewers with meat on them in an arrangement on the central table of the restaurant. "...Dangerous." he stomped towards the table and then taking bites out of all the meat, leaving the skewers empty very quickly.

"H-hey! What are you doing?!" Hajime raised his voice during this incident.

Akane joined him "Hey! You're hoggin' all the food!"

"No, I'm not!" Byakuya objected, all while objectively stuffing his face with the meat.

"I don't care what you say, you're totally pigging out!" Mahiru chimed in.

"I'm telling you, I'm not! Please look carefully at this dish..."

Nekomaru looked hungry as well, "It looks like... delicious roasted meat!"

"Yeah? And what exactly is stabbed into this roasted meat? That's right, this Iron Skewer is most definitely a dangerous item. I must take it."

At the moment he finished pigging out on the skewered meat, the man that cooked the dish came out to check on everyone and deliver the last of his plates. The only thing that Teruteru did not expect was to get suddenly berated with questions by Byakuya. "What are you plotting... cooking with such dangerous items?" the vice president interrogated the chef.

"Dangerous?! That's churrassco, it's a South American dish where you stab meat on an iron skewer to cook it...It felt really exotic and tropical, so I felt that it would totally fit the atmosphere."

"These Iron skewers are a problem." the VP stated bluntly, moving on to check the kitchen for anything else that could be dangerous and deciding to confiscate that like he did with Kazuichi's wrench, and he decided to take Hajime in with him (due to conveniently being right in front of him when he decided on what to do) to investigate said kitchen for said dangerous items. Knives, forks, anything that could be used for stabbing something... or someone, got taken away and placed into the duralumin case. The only thing missing was the middle knife in the kitchen's knife set. Teruteru had followed the trio into the kitchen and assured them that he too had found it frustrating that the set was missing that knife.

"But u-uh, in despite of that knife being missing, I still managed to pull through. That takes some talent, wouldn't you all agree?"

"Hmm." Byakuya ignored the chef prattling on after that. "I see. So if that knife was missing the entire time, then there's nothing that we can do about it. Let's get back to the party, the others are waiting."

The party got into motion. Nanami waited outside the lobby's front doors and Byakuya sat on the top of the outside stairs to the restaurant with that case he had been carrying around. Shinobu was directly across on the other side of the room with a second case that looked identical, but instead contained the keys to the first case, with he job being to guard it all night. And things went smoothly until shortly after 11:30 when Akane stopped eating, stuck her nose into the air and sniffed.

"Hey... what's that... smell?"

Following this, Byakuya seemed to turn his back on the party and look across the way somewhere outside of Hajime's line of sight. But he could tell Byakuya was shaken by whatever he saw outside. Next in the chain of events, Chiaki ran up (and seemed out of breathe), warning the rest of them that there was a fire outside that has consumed more than half of the old building, causing a panic. Hajime and a handful of the others followed the Vice President, and the gamer girl down the outside flight of stairs and down to the old building.

"Ohmigod this is suuuuper bad that building is on fire!"

"Shit, shit shit shiiiiiiit!"

"You there... what are you?

"Hey, watch where you're going."

"Gah!"

"Is everyone okay out there? The fire hasn't reached the hotel yet! Stay back, I'm getting the extinguisher."

Whoever offered that as a solution wouldn't get to help the rest of them with that, because Monokuma suddenly flew in with a biplane and sprayed water down on the old building, most of it hitting target and putting out what was left of the old building. (Some of it also splashed onto the students standing outside, making all of them complain."

"Taaa-daa" Monokuma jumped down in front of his students, "Impressed?"

 Byakuya sighed "A little bit. But more importantly than that is... do you know anything about this?"

"Nooope! But I'm sure one of you guys does know something about what's going on! Upupupu."

This gave Hajime a bad feeling that caused him to look around the crowd of people and take a head count of everyone. One... two.. five... ten... fifteen... sixteen... seventeen. There were three people currently missing from this picture: Yasuke, Fuyuhiko, and Soshun. The uneasiness grew.

"Hajime, Shinobu, I want the two of you to take a few people on your teams to go investigate the Hotel Lobby and the Old Building to see if the missing people are inside. The rest of you follow me and we shall do a sweep of the cabins. We need to find out who is responsible and-"

"And what? We're right here." it was Yasuke, he arrived and seemed to have an especially grumpy Fuyuhiko in tow a handful of steps behind him. "What's all this ruckus out here anyway?"

"Somebody here apparently set fire to the Old Building and all but destroyed it." The Vice President responded before turning back to the group. "Change of plan, Hajime, you take 9 people, and I'll take the rest into the old building so we can find the source of that fire."

Time seemed to slow to a freeze. Hajime and Kazuichi ran up to the doors of the Hotel Mirai. The duo threw them open as they heard the screams start to ring out behind them at what they saw behind the doors.

\-------------------

[For the full experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLIBuXMYH9g]

In the center of the lobby floor, unmoving, was the corpse of Soshun Murasame, the Ultimate Student Council President. He faced upwards with his arms spread out, his face contorted in pain, and his legs seemingly tied together at the base by some large cloth that was positioned underneath his  entire body. Looking at him, Hajime was reminded of the shape of a crucifix. A few feet behind his friend, stabbed into the wall, was a kitchen knife.

_ding dong, dong ding_

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, the school trial will be held!"

[SURVIVING STUDENTS: 19/20]

[END OF DAILY LIFE]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So everyone, did you guys expect the victim of this murder? Or did you think that it was gonna be someone else?
> 
> Tell me in the comments below what you think of this story so far, and give theories on who the murderer is this time around. If you guess correctly then you win the ability to be recognized for your psychic powers or something, idk.
> 
> Next up is the investigation, which will have it's own chapter. And then the class trial chapter, and after the mystery is solved, we'll move along to the next island getting explored.


	4. Ch. 1 Don't Count Your Chickens... Deadly Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ultimate Student Council President, Soshun Murasame, has been murdered! Now it is time for the pre-trial investigation. Hajime keeps getting dragged around by various people to investigate with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the underlined phrases, those are going to be important in the trial chapter. ;)

Hajime, feeling nauseous, entered through those front door onto what was now going to be mentally dubbed "The Crime Scene". A murder had occurred here. One of his fellow students gave in to Monokuma's despair and killed another one of their own classmates. And Soshun Murasame, the Student Council President and one of the Top of the class, one of the top even among the top, was that victim. In the midst of his thoughts he could here and see the rest of the class pouring into the room and surrounding the corpse in a half-circle. Even the group that should have been exploring the burned building, he assumed they must have heard that announcement as well and returned to see if it were true.

"So...shun... A murder occurred... and it was Soshun..." Shinobu began bawling her eyes out and using her younger brother as a means to stay upright. "Why... why did it have to be him?!"

Ibuki was foaming at the mouth. Kazuichi had buried his head into his hands. Teruteru repeatedly muttered about how this wasn't happening, and how none of this was real. Ryota walked up, body swaying and face green as he knelt down and pressed two fingers up against the neck of the body, seeming to be taking his pulse.

"It's no use, he actually is dead.... he has no pulse and he's not responding."

A laugh rang throughout the lobby "Upupupu! Of course he's dead! Not only that, but he was murdered, and one of you bastards are responsible!"

This visibly upset Akane and Nekomaru, who began to hound the headmaster and telling him stuff like "Shut up", "You're full of shit!", and "Take that back right now!"

"D'aww... I just wanted to help you guys out by giving you the Monokuma File!" he explained it in detail to them, "All the things you need to know about this killing are contained inside a file I have put in your eHandbooks! Like: who was killed, and how! So I suggest you go and read up on that before the trial!"

After Monokuma left, Yasuke began to read aloud out of the file from his own handbook. "The victim was Soshun Murasame, and his talent was the Ultimate Student Council President. His time of death is listed as 11:30 PM, or shortly thereafter." He gave pause for a moment. "This was around the same time as the fire happened at the old building, when I arrived to see the crowd of people in front of it, right Hajime?"

Hajime looked back at the Neurologist, who's eyes were locked squarely on him. "Yeah, that sounds like it's correct."

"And his cause of death was... internal decapitation. This means that the connection from the victim's brain to the rest of his nervous system was severed. On top of this, there are a multiple stab wounds along his neck and shoulder region."

"Decapitation? Could one of us really have done such a foul deed?" Sonia Nevermind asked.

"I bet it was that anime guy!" Hiyoko said, grinning maliciously, "It's always the quiet one that turn out to be sick, twisted murderers!"

"H-hey!" Ryota objected, "You c-can't just go around and throw out accusations like that in a situation like this!"

Yasuke sighed, "Mikan, you're a nurse, correct?"

The clumsy girl squeaked when she was called out. "Y-yes. B-but I'm not the killer if that's what your thinking. I know you're probably thinking that s-since you hate me."

"I wasn't thinking that at all. I was thinking more along the lines of having you examine the body's wounds in closer detail."

"Y-yes sir! I'll do that, just don't hate meeeeee!"

Yasuke looked to Hajime again and motioned him to come near Soshun's body as he kneeled down and looked at it, Mikan on the other side.

She told the two of them down there that "I can't seem to see any wounds on the front of him... except the small scarring on his throat."

"That must mean that the murderer plunged the weapon all the way through his neck, and part of it showed up there..." Yasuke theorized, as they were joined by Byakuya and Shinobu. "But before you turn him over, Mikan, I wanted to show Hajime something else about the body."

He pointed out to Hajime and the others how there was a loose knot by the ankles, and his whole lower body was shrouded by what seemed to be a tablecloth, while his upper body was not tied up, but open. "So it is my current working hypothesis that the killer purposely set up the body this way." 

Byakuya looked down, pressing a finger to his glasses. "Yes. It would seem that the murderer left the crime scene like this to show us something. But what could it be? And why was he wrapped up in this manner?"

Yasuke and Mikan picked the body up, turning him around carefully after having Mahiru take a picture of how the body was when they found it, to preserve the evidence. Once the corpse was face down Mikan got to work on her autopsy report. Ysuke took Hajime aside once more.

"Notice anything else while we were down there? Something that didn't look right. Maybe something off about... his arms?"

It took him a moment but Hajime remembered. "When he was alive... didn't Soshun ALWAYS wear a band around his arm?"

Yasuke cracked a smile, "Good work. You are much more perceptive than everyone else here. I may even take you in as an apprentice for the Neurology program some time if you keep this up. Later." And then Yasuke walked out of the hotel doors.

Hajime was left alone to investigate the room himself without help now. He started to ask around if anybody noticed something important while the crime was being committed.

"Oh yes, Ibuki does indeed have a clue for you Hajime! What do you think these puppies are for?" she gloated about her ears.

\---------------

[Flashback]

_"Ohmigod this is suuuuper bad that building is on fire!"_ This, of course, was what Ibuki-chan herself said upon witnessing this horror.

 _"Shit, shit shit shiiiiiiit!"_ Could really only have been Nekomaru... let's be honest.

 _"You there... what are you?"_ Was without a doubt the President!

 _"Hey, watch where you're going."_ Sounded liiiike... Nagito!

 _"Gah!"_ Was the president... again.

 _"Is everyone okay out there? The fire hasn't reached the hotel yet! Stay back, I'm getting the extinguisher."_ Was Teruteru, of this Ibuki is certain!

\----------------

"Hey, thank you Ibuki. I'm sure that'll help out somehow."

"No problemo!"

Moving on, he examined the wall with the knife in it. There was something bizarre about this segment of the walls in this room. it looked to be a different color of white than the other sections, even of this specific wall...

"Ah, Hajime! I see that you've taken interest in the knife stuck in this wall too." the voice of Nagito Komaeda said from over the protagonist's shoulder.

"Yeah. It's weird that it's stuck in the way it is instead of just discarded, and this wall looks funny too."

"Maybe the killer was trying to hide the weapon here?"

"This... wasn't hidden very well at all though. This sticks out like a sore thumb." Hajime said, grabbing the handle of the weapon suddenly, the knife slid out of the wall unexpectedly easily, and he felt like part of the handle was sticky with something.

"Ah... wait, Hajime, about the wall. I think this is made out of tape, looking at it closer now."

"Tape?"

"Yes, covering a hiding hole. What exactly do you think that this means Hajime?"

"That... the killer hid this weapon in advance?" despair washed over his face as he forced himself to say it, the full weight dawning on him. One of them had planned so far ahead that one of the walls was actually dug into and worked as a way to hide a weapon. Sonia was right, this murder was screwed up and brutal, no questions asked.

"Exactly." Nagito sighed, staring at his own feet, crossing his arms. "Which is why this couldn't have been one of our own. All of this seems like a lot of trouble... what if they got caught while putting this plan into motion? This is why I think that this is just Monokuma trying to trick us into despair!"

"If we can find evidence of that then great. But for now we can't limit possibilities like that and jump to conclusions."

"Ah, another thing I must point out before we move on. Look at the ground."

Hajime noticed it immediately, an indent in the carpet. So something very heavy had been sitting in front of this part of the wall. And it later got moved.

"But where did this object get moved? What was it?" Nagito was smiling as though he already figured out the answer to what got moved out of the walls way, something that matched the markings.

"Is it that cart with snacks that's all the way across the other side of the doorway now?"

"Yup. Our view of the hiding hole in the wall, looks like it matches up conveniently with the height of the table with snacks present."

Next up on Hajime and the white-haired boys' to-do list was to meet up with the rest in the burned building to investigate the clues that were likely to solve this case. After all, had the old building not been set ablaze there would have been witnesses to the crime in the lobby. And it logically follows that the fire was intentionally used to draw them out and distract everyone for long enough to commit murder and set up the scene.

The floors "inside" (and Hajime used this word lightly to refer to this place) were wood, but still in fine shape in the main hall, but the entire roof and parts of the upper wall were just about completely destroyed. The first room to check was the office. The only thing interesting inside there was the A/C unit had an alarm on it, set to the time "11:30".

Next up was the unisex bathroom in that same hallway. There was nothing of note in there, and seemed like nobody had used it in years.

The next closest room was the main hall, and when Hajime got in, a few of the others had already opened the doors and begun looking in there. Mikan wound up tripping on one of the loose boards, leading to the discovery that there were multiple holes in between the wood floorboards. Looking in the center of the room it was clear that some kind of fire damage was set in here. There was a hole in the roof and burnt ashes and wood in a pile in the center. In this room though oddly enough the periphery was left largely undamaged. On the wall hung another A/C unit with it's alarm set to 11:30 PM.

"Well... this looks to be about it in here!" Sonia exclaimed.

"Are you sure that that was all? That fire looked pretty damn big if ya ask me!" Akane argued.

"A-are you doubting Miss Sonia?!" Kazuichi came rushing in to be her defense.

"Actually mortal, the Princess is mistaken. Look at the wall. That, I believe is what those on your plane of reality refer to as a 'fire door'" Gundam commented, looking proud of himself. "In fact!" he declared, "I have sent one of my 4 DARK DEVAS through the fire door here, out to investigate the other side!"

"Y-you really sent a hamster to investigate fire damage?" Kazuichi looked ready to smash his face against a desk, should there have been any in the vicinity.

"Fool! The Devas are note merely Hamsters! You shall see soon enough!"

"Okay, fuck this nonsense." Yasuke showed up suddenly, and pushed the fire door back with his bare hands.

Gundam blushed. "Er... yes, well. Quite impressive. But I did not believe I had any use for that technique!"

The neurologist motioned to the rest to follow him deeper into the charred building. A quick check of this building's kitchen ensued, and nothing was found to be out of place there. That's when one of Gundam's hamsters returned and frantically danced around in front of him.

"Ahaha! Jum-P claims that he was discovered the source of this mysterious flame! It is best that we follow his lead to the location at once!" Himk and Sonia were the first ones to bolt after the hamster, followed by a physically distressed Kazuichi, who was followed by, for lack of a better term, "Hajime's investigation team" of him, Nagito, and Yasuke.

Around the corner was carnage. the floors, walls, and roof were all damaged completely and a disgusting smell of singed wood, metal, cloth, and an abundance of other items hit all of them hard. In the wreckage of what could only have been the storage room sat an ironing board. The irons were still red hot, still plugged in despite falling over. And also inside the remains of the room, there appeared to be a pile of cloth, the remainder of the cloths appeared to be doused with something. In the midst of the rubble stood a ladder almost tall enough to reach the roof stood, it's edges dulled and blackened by fire.

"Well, I guess this leaves one last place, right Hajime?" Nagito said, taking him along with him back to the outdoors and towards the cabins.

"And what would that be?"

"There could be another clue leftover in the victim's cabin. After we check that, Mahiru and Mikan should be done with their reports."

Hajime agreed and followed the white-haired boy to the victim's cabin and soon noticed Yasuke following behind, eyes locked on his book and seemingly trying to pretend like he wasn't joining them before he suddenly stepped faster and walked towards the cabin, being intercepted at the staircase by Headmaster Monokuma.

"Ah ah ah, what are you doing here?" the bear asked.

"I'm here to investigate for the class trial." Yasuke said bluntly.

"Upupu, ask nicely and I just might let you in!"

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Please may you let me in to investigate here?"

"Now ask with a pretty please with sugar on top!" Monokuma was enjoying himself for this moment.

Hajime detected a small flash of intensely upsetting emotion in the neurologist's features after Monokuma's pleading.

"Yes, alright." Yasuke cleared his throat. "Pwetty pwease wiff sugar on top, Mr Monokuma!" he said, hanging his head in shame promptly afterwards.

Monokuma cast a spell "Va-va-valuse!" and opened the door "magically".

After the bear left, Yasuke turned towards Nagito and Hajime, pointing at them. "You saw nothing here, okay?"

Nagito gave this a light-hearted laugh. "My lips are sealed!"

Inside the room there weren't very many clues. They could tell that Soshun had been somehow even more meticulously clean than they originally assumed, there wasn't a speck of dirt or dust anywhere. But in the recycle bin they found a frightening discovery. Nagito read it over out loud before Yasuke demanded to see it himself, confirming that it was what they thought it was.

Someone had sent a threatening letter to the Student Council President the night before his death.

\-------------------

_It's going to happen tonight. Somebody is definitely going to kill someone._

_\------------------_

After the discovery of this note, they left the cabins and were going to go back into the lobby, but Byakuya and Shinobu blocked the way.

"Oh good, you three are back. Byakuya and I were just letting everybody know what we found when we went back up into the restaurant!"

"Yes. We are pleased... for the most part, to report that nobody but us have touched the duralumin cases at all. They were shut the entirety of the party, and not one item has been removed."

"Mhmm, and nothing else in the restaurant or kitchen seem to be out of place at all. But... we did notice something odd about the decorative balloons that were set up on top of the stairs."

Byakuya looked surprised a brief moment, "Right, yes. I remember that too. The balloons are really reflective when you look at them from certain angles, so you can use it almost as though it were a mirror to look down the stairs."

"What does that mean?" Hajime asked the affluent one.

"Think about it this way... if someone chanced upon catching a glimpse of something going on downstairs, they could have been alerted to suspicious activity."

After telling them that bit of information, the Togami siblings let them get back into the lobby to meet up and get the results of the tests. First up was Mikan.

"U-u-umm, The stab wounds... on the body... they're all the, the c-correct shape and size to match the blade of that knife. So I think that that's definitely th-the murder weapon..."

Second up was Mahiru's report, which consisted of two maps, one for each level of the hotel. She had taken a few pictures of each and put them together to match up where everyone was at the time up to 10 minutes before the killing occurred.

On the first floor was Nanami standing in front of the doors, Soshun inside on the couch, relaxing for a moment but with one eye open looking at Nekomaru as he asked where the bathroom was. (Mahiru described this picture that way, adding additional testimony to explain the image) And the other side of that room was empty, so there was no picture. 4 people were counted as present at the party in this image.

On the second floor's restaurant however is where most of the interesting activity was. Akane, Peko, Ibuki, and Ryota were standing around the tables, gourging themselves to varying degrees. Hajime was in this picture too, standing off in the background in this shot. Byakuya was standing by the steps with his case in the far background. This picture alone accounted for 7 alibis. 11 people total were accounted for now.

In the next shot of the case showed Nagito overlooking the staircase below, talking to a barely visible silhouette that would have been where Shinobu was sitting with her case while taking notes. Hiyoko waved directly at the camerawoman (her 'favorite person here') and thus was central to the shot. Behind he was Sonia, Kazuichi, Mikan, and Gundam. 7 more people were accounted for in this photo. The only 2 that did not appear were the people who showed up after the fire broke out. Yasuke and Fuyuhiko.

Hajime thanked Mahiru, taking the pictures of the class and the map that came with it as evidence. That's when the "headmaster" came back on the monitors with a new announcement.

"Alright everyone! Your time is now over! Please meet at The Monokuma Rock, which can be found on the central island!"

"Monokuma Rock? Was there even something like that before? I've never seen such a thing."

But as soon as they rushed over there, everyone soon knew what he meant by "the Monokuma Rock", a mountain had several Monokuma's carved into it like The United States of America's famous Mount Rushmore landmark had with former presidents.

Byakuya spoke up as soon as he saw it. "So this just lends more credence to my guess... I am now more sure than ever that a large organization is behind this. It's the only logical conclusion to the question "How did the create something like this and not allow us to notice until now" Any objections?"

Yasuke answered, "No, actually." he said, surprising everyone, considering he was seen as the first one to raise an objection generally. "It makes sense. I agree that this is impossible for one, two, even a dozen people it would be supremely difficult to pull off this bullshit. This is the work of terrorists." He concluded, shutting the book in his hand promptly.

That was when he showed up again. "Little old me? A terrorist! Upupupu... you guys give me faaaar too much credit. I'm merely a bear!"

"You are a terrorist! You're terrorizing my students!" Monomi cried behind him before getting swiftly kicked in the gut to shut her up. (Do stuffed rabbits even have guts?)

"Anyways... please use the escalator, you will reach your destination in no time!" he said before disappearing on the class.

"Esca...lator?" Mikan wondered aloud, and just as she asked about it, it descended straight out of one of the Monokuma heads up on the mountain.

Nervously the 19 remaining students got aboard, and it took them to an elevator, which took them down a slow and creaky length. The silence was deafening and left Hajime alone to his thoughts. This was it. A class trial of hope and despair. His classmates had to find the culprit in this case. Soshun Murasame, the Ultimate Student Council President... He was always calm, always righteous. He walked a moral path in his life, and he never wished harm on anybody, he only wanted everyone to work alongside each other as he lead them to hope. He would do anything in his power to prevent the killing from starting. Out of all of them, he was the most trustworthy and reliable. Somebody like him was killed.

...And one of the people inside this elevator right now was the _blackened_ , the culprit responsible for his death.

[END OF INVESTIGATION]


	5. Class Trial 1: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 1st class trial is now under way! Will hope win, or does the days victory belong in the hands of despair?

 The elevator came to a halt and the door creaked open slowly, revealing 20 podiums in a circle. On a large throne several feet behind the set of podiums sat the Headmaster, Monokuma. On his right side, hung from the ceiling and tied up in rope was Monomi. The students checked out the podiums, finding that each one was assigned, each spot designated with a nameplate of it's owner, much like the cabins were. Hajime was the first to notice something odd about Soshun's spot, or at least what would have been Soshun's spot if he were still alive. In his place stood a framed picture around his same height, face crossed out by a red X.

"Just what is that?" Byakuya demanded an explanation angrily.

"Oh..." Monokuma looked disappointed. "See... I just got to thinking that it wasn't fair to leave out Soshun just because he's dead now!"

Yasuke scoffed. "Shit, that's actually pretty fucked up."

"Enough of that though, since you're all acquainted with your spots! It's time to explain the rules!" Monokuma exclaimed cheerfully. "Once you come to your conclusion, whatever that may be, you must vote on who you think the blackened is! Aaand if you guess correctly, then they got caught and will be punished! But if you fail to catch them... upupupu, then the rest of you will be punished instead, and the blackened will get to graduate!"

Byakuya spoke up when Monokuma was done with his spiel. "With that out of the way, I'd like to start with establishing where everyone was during the time of the attack. To start, let's find everyone's alibis. And if we think about this a bit, then we can narrow down the list of suspect's a bit."

Yasuke smirked. "So, I see how it is. You want to imply that Fuyuhiko and I are the most suspicious here just because we skipped out on your little party, huh?" He laughed to himself, shaking his head. "In response I'd like to point out that it's actually the opposite! Because we weren't at the party, that means the only two people for which it would be impossible as culprits in this crime, are US!"

It was Byakuya's turn to let out a chuckle. "Heh, I should have figured that something like that wouldn't go over your head. But... do you maybe have anything else to back you up?"

Chiaki interrupted this line of questioning. "Um, I think I have something that would help with this. I was out front standing guard the whole time, remember? I didn't let anybody else in after Mahiru. But I did see one person walk by."

"And by chance do you remember who that was?"

"It was... Fuyuhiko."

The Yakuza spat out a retort. "I was just out on a walk you dumb, nosy little bitch!"

Hiyoko giggled, "Hehe, he called someone else 'little'"

Byakuya began questioning Chiaki's account instead of Yasuke. "And did he try to come in?"

"I think that he wanted to... but no. He just stopped by and spoke to me for a minute."

"SHUT UP! I don't care about you guys and your dumbass party!"

Byakuya's gaze shifted between Chiaki and Fuyuhiko for a short moment, settling again on Chiaki. "And did he try to enter the old building at all?"

"Mmm..." Chiaki thought, chewing on her lip. "No, he went straight back to his cabin after seeing me. This was shortly after 11:20 when Mahiru took my picture."

Mahiru held a hand to her head. "Huh, so that's why I never saw him or Yasuke, neither showed up until after I started taking pictures of everyone."

Fuyuhiko seemed to calm back down. "So, this exonerates me right? I'm in the clear? This girl's testimony proves that I had nothing to do with that fire or the murder."

"No, that's wrong!" interjected Hajime. "We can't be certain that the fire was lit by a person who was inside the building around the time we actually detected the fire!"

"Gah, shut the fuck up asshole, what are you even saying?" Now that was the same old short-tempered gangster.

Yasuke had an empty expression, "He's saying that the fire was planned in advance."

"OH YEAH? And what makes you assholes think I set up some fire trap?!"

Yasuke shook his head, sighing. "I'm not saying that it was you, in fact I highly doubt that theory. But I do agree that it was way too convenient to not have been set in advance."

Hajime agreed. "Yeah, think about it guys. What was it that we saw while investigating the burned building?"

Shinobu joined in. "Oh, that's obvious. There were 2 A/C units in that building. Both had alarms at 11:30, the exact time that Akane and Chiaki informed us of the fire."

Kazuichi looked baffled. "Huh? But why would the AC cause a fire, isn't that meant for cooling and not heating?"

Hajime continued on, thinking over all the evidence. "You're right, but maybe that's not what lit the fire."

"But didn't you just say that-"

Yasuke was shaking his head again. "No, you moron. It was a reason. But it wasn't THE reason."

"Wasn't... the reason?"

"Think about it this way." Yasuke said, trying his best in giving everyone a mental picture of what he meant. "The AC probably was part of the reason that the electrical system in there was messed up. The other one were the irons that we found tipped over. And I can't help but assume that the burned ashes and cloth were also intended to start or spread the flames through the rest of that back room."

The Togami siblings agreed with this idea. Shinobu speaking first this time. "Yep. By our calculations this was an electrical fire."

Hiyoko looked tired. "Okay, but what does this even tell us about the murderer? Like, nobody even used that gross, old building. It was so gross it reminded me of Mikan's face."

"Eeee, w-why was it my face?"

Yasuke put it bluntly. "It means that the murderer got in without anybody noticing it. There's no way that the whole time we were here there were AC timers, irons, and accelerant were just laying around back there, waiting to ignite a blaze."

"Well, when you put it like that... There doesn't happen to be an Ultimate Pyromaniac running around here at all, right?" Hiyoko joked.

 "Even so, there's something bizarre about the way the fire spread." Byakuya commented. "It seemed to only affect the storage area, the back hall, and part of the main dining hall in there."

Hajime recalled that too. "And even then, in that dining hall... it was only in the center of the hall. Not even the wall closest to the storage."

"So, what's this mean?" Akane asked.

Sonia looked distressed a bit. "Could it be that... there were actually two fires? One in the storage and one in the dining hall, to be exact."

"But why would the killer even need to do something like that?" Teruteru asked, his pointer fingers steepled against each other. "That's truly bizarre."

Hajime nodded. "Yes, that is odd. And seems needlessly convoluted. What if we had noticed the first fire?"

"Are you saying that the one in the dining hall may have been the first one?"

"Yes. But unlike the one we witnessed... the first one must have been controlled, while the killer was inside the building!"

"But how do we know it happened? And how would we even tell when they set the first one anyway?" Peko asked.

Hajime responded, "We know that it happened because there was the planks removed from the ceiling, which I'm convinced were removed before they were burned, because otherwise that hole... it was too perfect not to have been the way it was. As to when it was no doubt sometime today as part of the killer's plan."

"What makes you say this?" Byakuya asked.

"Well, it's clearly man-made and it couldn't have been left alone because there was no way anybody would have left it alone and risked ruining their own plan."

As he spoke, Hajime realized what the purpose may have been. And he concluded there were two possibilities, a mistake on the arsonists part... or even worse, it was designed specifically to get them to waste time on a meaningless tangent. It was the very definition of a red herring. If the killer just wanted one distraction, the fire witnessed by the party-goers would have been the only one they needed. But whoever set this whole thing up knew they would notice the entire building was fishy.

"So, what's the dumb arson even matter?" Hiyoko asked, "Maybe they were just testing to see if their method would cause enough sparks?"

"No, that's wrong!" Hajime responded, ready to share his own thoughts. "That would require the methods to be the same though, wouldn't it?"

"Huh, what do you mean it wasn't the same methods? The idiot lit two fires, didn't they?"

Byakuya nodded "They did. And we found exactly what caused the second one, but that couldn't have been used in the original "test" fire at all."

"Do, do you m-mean..." Ryota said nervously, "To say that the test round, had nothing to do with electricity? Wouldn't that mean that... the first one, used something else?"

A look came across Nagito's face as though he were ready to speak, pondering out loud. "Then, the first fire could have been a lighter, couldn't it?"

Byakuya looked worried. "There were in fact lighters held in stock at the market. Someone easily could have snuck one of those out and tested it."He conceded.

Sonia summarized, "So what we know right now... is that the killer took a lighter, tested it on some wood they took from the ceiling of the dining hall, away from where our prying eyes would have been. And then after they were done, then they set the trap for 11:30 with the electrical fire."

"Beautifully said Miss Sonia!" Kaz made sure to add when she was done.

"Huh?" Akane had confusion in all of her facial features. "Then why didn't we find a lighter anywhere?"

Hajime froze, that was a good point. In his entire investigation, they didn't turn up a lighter at all. But as he thought about it. They definitely found something that could link a lighter to this case. Meaning one was definitely used in this case, and the killer may still have it on them... but they haven't gone over enough to determine who this person was.

Monomi was asked if someone could have just thrown the lighter out somewhere on the island, and she responded that they couldn't have, because that was against the rules and her or Monokuma would have known about the rule being broken. This led Hajime to believe even more that whoever set up this plan never got an opportunity to dispose of the lighter... or they never wanted to dispose of the lighter in the first place.

Yasuke spoke up, bringing Hajime back to reality and the courtroom, saying almost exactly what he was thinking. "We do have a connection to a lighter. The fluid found on that cloth in the back room was clearly lighter fluid, used as an accelerate. I'm not sure how much was used, or if all of it was used. But whoever set the fire probably still has it."

Nekomaru crossed his arms. "And let me guess... this same person must be the murderer right? But if that's the case they'd never agree to show us. So, we're going to need to corner them somehow. We need more evidence."

"Yeah, all this arguing and we're still showing n-nothing for it..." Tsumiki muttered.

"It's almost like we still haven't begun!" Hiyoko snickered. "Wow, everybody here is really dumb if we can be this easily led on."

Hajime was taken aback, sure there wasn't anything solid here to go on yet, but they've only looked at one part of the incident so far. "Well, how about we take a look at what was happening at the same time inside the hotel lobby, and what we know about it!" he said, keeping the group pressing forward towards hope.

Gundam looked pleased. "Yes, enough about this fire for now. Even some of you mortals may have realized already that the hotel is the most important location in this incident!"

Byakuya scoffed. "If we really want to solve this, we already have a way to get closer! Just think about it!" he seemed angrier than usual. "Whoever set the fire is in with the killer, so we need proof that someone has the lighter on them!"

"Wow, who pissed in Mr. Ham Hands' cornflakes?" Hiyoko snarked.

"And I know exactly who it is that may have such an object on them!"

Hajime frowned. Byakuya was suddenly acting odd, desperate to reach a conclusion even. This wasn't like him.

"Though... it begs the question of how they are involved with the killing. Are they the murderer? Or are they just an accomplice?"

Everyone went silent listening to him go on.

"Because the way I see it, I find it very likely that this killer may have used an assistant to carry it out. It required the effort of multiple people to pull this off."

Hajime hadn't considered that there was help, it didn't seem like there was, but at the same time he couldn't discount this theory just yet.

"Nagito!" bellowed Byakuya. "During your body check, there was something odd."

Nagito smiled, putting his hands up in the air. "Oh, was there? I don't recall something like that."

"Well I do!" the progeny continued pressing this issue. "It was vaguely shaped like a box and was hidden along your legs. At the time, you said that it was a special device that would help regulate your blood condition. Was that really what it was though?"

Nagito smirked, crossed his arms, and looked down at his feet. "Ah, so you doubt that my medical record was accurate do you?"

"No, not at all. You very well may have a condition. But I'm saying that the device currently on your leg wasn't for that. It was to contain lighter fluid, and assist in sparking fire."

The white-haired boy began to laugh lowly, under his breathe. First it was a small chuckle. Then it grew to a fully audible cackling that rung throughout the courtroom.

"He ehehehe, ha AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Nagito held a hand up to the side of his head and grinned wide, and the look in his eyes... was this really him? Inside those eyes spun despair and hope, mixing together crudely to get... whatever this expression was. Was this person standing before them the same Nagito as before? Was this his true nature.

He stopped laughing and began to speak. "Ah, this feeling. It is an overwhelming one." he looked to be melting into his own arms right now. "The Ultimates are slowly starting to get their acts together, working against the despair of the murderer among them."

"Wait?" Kazuichi questioned. "W-what? Is he confessing? What the FUUUUUUUUCK"

"Yes, Byakuya. Though, I don't expect guys like Yasuke and Hajime to buy into the story that I did it just yet." he smiled and sat down, rolling his pants leg up slowly and pulling the lighter from it. He showed it off, flicking with his finger to show the small amount of flame that was still left. "So, this should be proof enough. And no, I had no help."

"But why would you do that?!" Shinobu yelled at him, apparently holding back tears.

"Ah yes, a motive... I can entirely attest that right now. My motive was simply to use the two of us as your stepladder to a greater hope! Just think about it, one of the most important. Soshun; and one of the least important, myself. The two ingredients needed to truly work in tandem as that first step."

Kazuichi stuttered, clearly uncomfortable. "Y-yeah. I don't need any more proof that this guy did it. He's clearly insane! That didn't even make sense!"

Yasuke's interest was piqued. "So, it was your handwriting on this note?"

Nagito nodded. "Of course! Nobody else has writing thats as painful to look at as that hideous chickenscratch!"

"And you set up the hiding spot in the wall?"

"Yep, all of that was just tape I got at the market, just like the lighter. The knife was from the kitchen of course, I stole that from Teruteru before he even knew it was gone!"

"D-damn it, you're really creepy you know that right?" the chef commented, without him realizing a single hint of irony that was present.

Everyone was just about ready to cast the votes, but in the middle of Monokuma's speech he got rudely interrupted.

"Wait just a damn second!" Ibuki cried. "I agree, Nagito is a toooootal freakazoid, no offense. But Ibuki doubts he's actually like, the murderer. If you get what I mean?"

Nagito chuckled again. "No offense taken!"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Peko.

"Well it's just... Ibuki remembers something, and its been bothering her a lot. While we were all panicking, a few of us spoke. And it all sounded like it was coming from behind our restaurant group."

Hajime recalled this testimony too. "So, what you're saying it was one of the people that spoke?"

"Yeah!"

"Um, hellooo! Earth to airhead, Didn't freakshow over there also speak in the midst of that whole thing?" Hiyoko prodded.

Ibuki looked unsure of herself now. "Yeah, though Ibuki thinks that... what he said was weird for a murderer to say, isn't it?" her face was practically begging Hajime to back up her argument.

So he did. "I agree! If I remember you're testimony correctly Ibuki, Nagito had said something along the lines of _"Hey, watch where you're going."_ Am I right?"

Ibuki nodded furiously. "Yeah, yeah! Who was he talking to? Because if it was Soshun then wouldn't it be weird for a murderer to tell his victim that?"

Done processing the track this trial was going, Chiaki spoke up. "So... then what was Nagito doing when he said that?"

The wheels in Yasuke's head turned, and it finally all clicked for him. "Could it have been a warning?"

Nagito smirked. "Or maybe I was pulling a classic 'made you look' on him?"

Yasuke shook his head and laughed. "So, you're going to be protecting the killer this time then?"

"Now, why would you say that?" Nagito started getting nervous.

"Because you set it up so that you'd look like the killer, but you were actually setting someone else up as your pawn."

"M-my pawn?!" he gasped before reverting as close to 'back to normal' as he could after his previous breakdown. "I could never use any of you guys as a pawn! I love all of you and your talents too much! Maybe it was that I got used?"

"Listen Nagito, you've already lost this game. Give it up." Yasuke demanded. He added on afterwards, "I think it was all your manipulations, without a doubt. But you never carried out the knife attack. Tell me exactly what happened in your scuffle."

"Scuffle?" Nagito raised an eyebrow. "Oh, THAT scuffle! Yeah, there wasn't much to that at all."

"Go on"

"He caught me in the middle of taking the knife out of it's spot. He shouted at me, and grabbed me from behind. But I was too slick for him! I asked him where he was going and then stabbed him in the back!"

"Then what about the blood?"

"Th-the blood?"

"Yes, the blood Nagito. You would have been covered in blood, and so would have the murderer, the real one that is. If not for one thing."

Nagito finally looked defeated, hand held on his hip looking down. "You're talking about _that..._ aren't you?"

Hajime spoke up, knowing what Nagito meant. "Yep. The body was wrapped in a table cloth, and ruling you out as the actual murderer would have allowed only one other person the chance to set that up and let you take the fall for your part of the plan."

Yasuke added onto this train of thought. "So, why and when exactly did the body get wrapped up in the table cloth? Before or after he already died? Because if you look closely at it, you already know. Mikan, take it away!"

Mikan let out a small yelp when called upon. "Th-that's right, on top of examining the body, I also examined the wrappings... the knife went through and cut holes in the table cloth!"

Yasuke smiled. "And that right there isn't even my only trump card. Just one I needed to shred your poor excuse of a story."

Nagito looked disappointed, and gauging the reaction of the other classmates, Hajime noticed one of them growing increasingly nervous, and he had a good opening now to hammer in the point that Nagito wasn't the blackened.

He then turned to look at Yasuke, "the other one wouldn't happen to be the armband, would it?"

Yasuke nodded. "So, Nagito, one more thing that you'd know about the killing if you did it was where the armband was. Do you have that still on you like the lighter?"

Nagito shook his head, indicating no. "I would try to lie. But you always see through me when I do that, don't you Yasuke? I wouldn't expect anything else from an Ultimate Neurologist, the expert at the human brain..."

"Enough buttering me up, I know you know already, hell, probably knew the whole time and that's why you tried misleading us."

"My mouth is sealed though. I'm not ratting him out."

Byakuya spoke again. "Him?" But Nagito didn't answer, he kept rambling.

"After all, it wasn't even supposed to be Soshun. The killer was supposed to be targeting me, so I still believe firmly that their hope can shine brightest and move past this!"

"Wait..." Hajime quirked an eyebrow at him. Nagito and his motives were totally difficult to discern, but he said all of the things he did for a specific reason, that much was certain. "What you're saying is that you were supposed to be the one to get murdered tonight?"

Nagito sighed. "Yeah... it really sucks too, I can't even get myself murdered correctly! That's how much of a failure I am!"

Ryota asks if anybody saw anybody going downstairs into the lobby before or during the start of the panic over the arson outside.

Nanami said that she ran up the stairs after passing by Soshun on the couch, and had nearly ran into Nagito at the top of the stairs. While Shinobu testified that she had been talking to Nagito up until taking a nap and getting interrupted and woken up during the incident. Gundam and Hiyoko agreed that they saw Nagito go down the stairs quietly first but lost sight of him when he was partially descended down and they were forced to turn around to witness the rest of the panic.

Other claims were made, some backed up by alibis. Akane was eating, everyone wound up agreeing that she couldn't have been the murderer because all of them saw her and Byakuya were the first ones to leave the restaurant through the outside steps, followed immediately by Nanami who had been on guard duty. Mahiru recalled shuffling outside with Ibuki, Hiyoko, and Mikan, who all backed up that claim. Of course there were the two classmates that never attended.

Kazuichi said he was worried for Sonia, looked around and saw two shadows, one looking like the "shape of a ghost" that was hard to tell where they were standing in relation to the other person. And that "nobody" had walked down the stares. Teruteru's memory of the events was somewhat messed up but he remembers seeing Nagito leaving the opposite way everyone else was, which was suspicious.

One by one, each alibi was remembered, checked, and checked again.

With these testimonies it was clear that there was one person who was inside the hotel at the time of the incident who was completely unaccounted for during not only the chaos, but was also out of place when thinking over what everyone was doing while the event was set up.

"That person is you!"

\-------------------------

[TRIAL SUSPENDED]

"Um, hello, I'm Monomi! This trial was really intense! And scary! And... many other things. But Hajime seems to have all of this mess sorted out. I don't, I'm such a useless teacher... but uh, please always remember to bookmark wherever you stopped reading last, and always take frequent breaks to rest your eyes, or drink water!"

\------------------------

Hajime coughed into his hand, sad that it had to come to this conclusion, but no matter what all the signs pointed to this being the case.

"Nekomaru... where were you during all of this?"

 Teruteru side-eyed the tallest among the group. "Yeah... I don't think I saw you at the party, only before it while I was setting up that snack tray downstairs... and you asked where the decorations came from... and for water."

All eyes turned to the Ultimate Team Manager as the Ultimate Neurologist spoke up next in questioning. "It is a bit odd is it not? That you're pictured at the party, but nobody can recall very much of you from today?"

Then the Secretary. "And you've been awfully quiet this entire trial, I know because I've been taking notes!"

Akane looked down and sighed heavily, waiting for Nekomaru to respond to these accusations. "Coach? You didn't do it did you...?" She said, unsure and pleading.

"No." he smiled, denying them finally. "DID YOU FOOLS NOT HEAR MY SCREAMS OF ANGUISH DURING THE BLAZE?" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "OF COURSE I WAS OUTSIDE VIEWING THAT FIIIIIIIIRE, I WAS NOT INSIDE WITH THE BODYYYYY!" his hands slammed up against his podium repeatedly.

"DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY ACTUAL EVIDENCE THAT I DID IT? OR IS THIS ALL MORE SHIT THAN MY BOWELS AFTER TACO TUESDAY?!"

Yasuke looked down and sighed. "Oh, you certainly know what happened, murderer."

"DOOOON'T CAAAALL ME THAAAAT"

"Let's just say that you were waiting in a certain room, for a certain time, but you realized you put the plan into motion too late."

"Huh?" it was clear that Akane wanted to believe Nekomaru's side over the Neurologists. Though with all the coincidences up until now... the only place he could have been the whole time was in the bathroom downstairs, and he didn't just need it for the toilet. That began to dawn on everybody.

"THEN WHAT IF I WAS JUST TAKING A BIG SH-"

Nekomaru was interrupted by the Ultimate Luck. "I'd just give up now if I were you"

"WHAT? GIVE UP?"

"Yeah... I hate to see you so desperate... so full of despair. This isn't what I imagined this trial would turn out to be like at all." Nagito seemed exasperated now. "This has been a real let down."

Peko didn't seem happy with what they had. "Does anybody have a piece of conclusive evidence. He doesn't seem ready to give up, and the entire case against him is merely circumstantial. Is it really okay to end the trial this way?"

Hearing her complaint, Nagito answered. "Yes. I'll give one final testimony about that. It started when-"

He was hushed by Nekomaru. "No, I'll take it this. If anything. I must admit defeat on my own terms!"

"Coach..." Akane muttered.

\----------------------

"It all began when when I was training by the poolside by myself... like I do every day around noon, doing push-ups and running laps."

_creak_

_"Hmm? That old building just opened up, ho's coming out?"_

_It was Nagito_

_"Hahahaha, this is perfect!"_

_"What's perfect, what was going on in there?"_

"He was behaving oddly. I hadn't seen one of us act that suspicious before."

_"Tonight, everything truly begins tonight. And it'll be wonderful."_

"Nagito began to describe to me in detail what he meant after I asked him what he meant."

_"Hope."_

_"Hope?"_

_"Yes. To strengthen our hope, I'm going to start the killing game! I'm going to set fire to the old building, and then I'm going to take a weapon out of a hiding hole in the wall of the lobby. If you see a ghost, that's me."_

"His grin... was unsettling to say the least. And the things he said were horrifying. His "hope" was nothing but despair. I took things into my own hands and walked upstairs to the kitchen, and took the knife from there, nearly being caught by Teruteru. I hid it away in my jacket and pretended I was just there for a glass of water. If I had acted sooner. it wouldn't have happened like this, and if I had acted later... Nagito really would have been the killer."

\--------------------------

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTPdehG3xro]

"It's time to go over this case one more time!"

It all began that morning when Nagito placed a note on the steps of the student council president, and victim in this case, Soshun Murasame's cabin. Upon finding this on his morning walk, he called the rest of the student council together to make an announcement about a party they planned as a way to keep everyone in a controlled scenario with no dangerous items inside.

Nagito tried pushing for the party to be held inside the old building, but his idea got shot down. Apparently he was planning for something to happen at the party inside the old building, but with that variable taken away the plan had to be retolled.

The straws were drawn and Nagito was chosen as the one to set up decorations and clean the lobby. This gave him an opportunity to go back and forth in multiple trips between the market, the hotel, and even the old building when he believed nobody was paying attention. Just seeing him carrying the supplies wouldn't have been suspicious at all.

While cleaning and decorating the lobby, he created a hole in the wall and covered it with tape to make it less obvious, and it would later be covered a second time, by Teruteru placing the snack cart in front of it.

During the set up of his plot, Nagito tested the lighter fluid's ability to help burn wood, the rest of the fluid would later be used as accelerate for the spread of the electrical fire he set to go off using the irons and the A/C timers, overloading the circuits.

Outside, he ran into someone and told them about his plan for that night, to kickstart the killing game.

This person was taken aback at the ludicrous nature of his statements and began formulating their own plan to stop him. They went inside the lobby while he was away, spotted the hole he told them about, and snuck a knife from the kitchen while the chef was out.

The culprit then went about the day normally until the party began, where they hung out in the lobby the whole time with Chiaki outside on guard duty, and the victim inside the lobby watching the downstairs for any troubles brewing, which he was on alert for because of the previously mentioned note.

The culprit took a break in the bathroom until around 11:30, when he heard the commotion of footsteps running around in the other room. Instinctively they yelled in fear, and burst out the door holding onto their weapon.

The commotion was caused by the fire that they knew Nagito was responsible for causing and wanted to use as a distraction in his plan.

Inside the lobby he found himself in the midst of a scuffle between two people.

Nagito had snuck downstairs and was caught tearing into the taped-up hole. This aroused the victim's suspicions about his activities.

Instead of a knife however, he pulled out a tablecloth and the victim took it away from him, ending up wrapped in it while his back was turned to the killer behind him.

Nagito let out a warning, having wanted to use the tablecloth to make himself appear suspicious, and thus make himself a target for the killer.

The killer didn't know that the person inside the cloth was Soshun, and not Nagito as he would have expected.

Soshun crumpled to the ground wrapped in the cloth.

Teruteru was frantically searching in the restaurant above for the extinguisher, and had grabbed it when Monokuma suddenly appeared in his plane.

Meanwhile, the killer saw Nagito running outside to the rest of the group and panicked. Not having much time, he put together forged evidence. The killer placed the knife he stole from the kitchen where it was "supposed" to be, inside the wall. And checked to see who he had actually killed.

Seeing it was Soshun, the killer decided to make some changes out of some sense of 'respect' perhaps, only they really know. They wrapped his feet up, and took his armband off his sleeve as a memento.

Isn't that right, Nekomaru Nidai?"

\-----------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody like what I did in place of the "save frequently" spiel that Monomi has in the game? Because I think it keeps the spirit of things close to that.
> 
> And anyway, I split this up so that the execution is it's own chapter, which will wrap up chapter 1, and cut back on the length of this particular segment.
> 
> For bonus fun, speculate on what you think the execution for this chapters blackened will be!
> 
> As usual, I enjoy hearing your feedback! Tell me things you liked, things that I can improve on, interesting things you noticed, etc!


	6. Trial 1: Verdict and Execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first blackened has been found guilty!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This execution is an original one I came up with, and I would have used it even if Nekomaru had an unused one tbh. But I couldn't find one while I was checking if he did have one.

A machine with a wheel spinning, showing pictures of every student's face spun quickly. Then slowed down. It got slower and slower until it landed on Nekomaru.

_ding ding da ding_

"Looooks like we have a winner folks!" Monokuma exclaimed with glee as coins spilled forth from his machine after the votes had been tallied. "You guessed the blackened correctly! It was Nekomaru Nidai, the Ultimate Team Manager!"

Nekomaru reached into his pants pocket and pulled it out, it was Soshun's armband, the one that went missing after the murder. He left his seat and handed it to Hajime, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You caught me. So, to say sorry about all this trouble... I want you to keep this to remember us by. Its... the least that I can do to atone."

Akane looked at the coach nervously. "So... you really did have that with you the entire time then."

He turned to her. "Yes. Even while we investigated together. I knew that as long as you were there. I couldn't get rid of it, even if I wanted to." He continued, as she suddenly ran up and embraced him. "Akane, though we only had a training session or two, our time allowed me to see how much potential you possess. I am expecting you to take good care of yourself, get off this island, but don't try to leave the way I did."

Yasuke chuckled, pacing behind the two of them now. "So, are you going to tell us finally that you didn't really do it to stop Nagito? That all of that was just the excuse you needed to murder someone? After all, stopping him would have been easy. In fact, the victim was already in the middle of doing that when you arrived with the knife."

"Do you think that was really what was happening?" Nanami asked, eliciting a 'huh?' out of Yasuke. "Well, what if... he was _protecting_ Nagito?"

Nagito laughed. "Ah, Nanami... there's no way someone like him would do that... risking his own life to save someone like me?" he shook his head.

"You don't have to believe it yourself, that's just what I think happened." she said, head tilted to the side.

"Well... actually, if that is the truth..." Nagito said, "Then, I guess that does make sense, now that I'm thinking about what his talent was."

'What his talent was...' Hajime thought. ' _He was the Ultimate Student Council President'_

It all made sense. He had vowed that not a single one would become a victim. His talent was protecting his classmates, his talent was to look out for their interests, even at the expense of his own.

The tense moment was torn apart by a fit of laughter. "Upupupu, I hate to do this, actually no,I love to do this! But... we don't exactly have time to continue being all sentimental like this. Sooooo! Let's get on with punishment time!"

He pulled out a mallet and slammed down on the gigantic red button in front of him.

\-----------------------

[Set. Touchdown. Homerun...: the Execution of Nekomaru Nidai]

_Nekomaru has been found GUILTY_

He was dragged away by a chain, leaving the room. Monokuma directed them to look at a screen to the right side, and Nekomaru already appeared on it. He was on a beach, standing near a volleyball net.

However, two especially large copies of Monokuma walked onto the court, one of them picking him up.

Nekomaru struggled, trying to slip out of the bear's grasp. He was tossed into the air, and then bounced like a volleyball back and forth between the two of them several dozen times, but on the last volley he was hit especially hard, flying away off screen.

The monitor cut to a football field, where a whole team of large Monokuma were playing a game. A Wide Receiver Monokuma ran down the field, pursued by a handful of Monokuma defenders. The receiver Monokuma jumped in the air and caught Nekomaru, landing in the end zone. The Manager was then thrown through the uprights of the goal, and sent away again.

Finally, a battered and dizzy Nekomaru sat on a pitchers mound on a baseball diamond. Next to him stood another Monokuma, who picked him up.

This time, he didn't fight back. He couldn't fight back.

He was thrown with a windup from the bear, and thrown to yet another copy of the headmaster who was holding a bat and wearing a helmet.

The bat struck Nekomaru, and blood splattered all over the lense of the camera that was recording this. His body was not seen again. Everyone was left with these images as the screen faded to static and retracted into the wall, Monokuma's laughter ringing in their ears.

\----------------------

[END OF CHAPTER 1]

[SURVIVING: 18/20]


	7. Free Time Events: Soshun Murasame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of the free time events Hajime would have had with Soshun. This does not include the introduction/first hope shard collected pre-Monokuma.

#1

"We'll get through this safely, I know we can do it."

Hajime spent some of his free time with Soshun. He thought that the President would be good company to keep his worries away. Soshun kept his arms crossed, looking out into the distance for a bit before the conversation got going.

"Are you nervous? Scared?" the president asked Hajime.

"Huh?" there was an involuntary noise from Hajime's throat, "W-well yeah..." he stuttered. "Isn't everyone? Ever since _he_ showed up."

"I see... yes, and yet everyone seems to be coping alright so far."

"And you especially, aren't you in a lot of stress as the one leading us?"

"Not exactly, I have others helping me, and all of us are helping you guys. I see bonds forming among ourselves already, those with similar talents or similar attitudes are already beginning to trust each other. This is the first step on our road out of this."

"I see..." Hajime said, looking down and to the side. "Have you noticed, well,"

"Noticed yourself fitting in somewhere here? Are you perhaps looking for a sign of your forgotten talent through that? Heh, I'd just let it go, it'll make itself clear to you in no time."

"You're right, maybe I should stop worrying about this so much."

The president nodded, placing a hand on Hajime's shoulder while he smiled wide. "Exactly. If you need me at any time you can come to me. Heck, maybe you're the Ultimate Student Council Treasurer?"

That would be nice... serving on the council alongside Soshun, Shinobu and Byakuya would be something Hajime would like to do. Maybe he'd run when they all returned home together after this ordeal.

"Maybe you're right Soshun. Maybe you're right."

\---------

#2

 Hajime decided to spend more of his free time with Soshun, who looked a little more upset than the last time the two met.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, not exactly. I'm just thinking about that bear again, and how he's calling himself the Headmaster."

Hajime nodded, "It's very odd that he's making that claim, do you think the Headmaster or others at the school might be behind our situation?"

"Not a chance" Soshun commented bluntly. "I don't think the administration are the kind of people that do this kind of thing. I respect all of them so much." The Student President continued albeit seemingly switching the subject entirely., "You want to know what my dream job is?"

There was no choice but to answer the question, thinking it through made it obvious, "Do you mean that you want to be the Headmaster some day?"

The president smiled gently, acknowledging the guess as the correct answer.

"I dunno," Hajime tugged at his collar, "That job just seems like it would come with a lot of stress."

"Not to me, I'd very much like to do it but... if that bear is claiming it, he might have done something unspeakable to him..." he clenched his fist, looking angry.

"Like... murder?"

"Exactly. That's the only way I can see these people behind it pulling off this plan. They must have killed off the staff first and drugged then kidnapped us here to make us do the same thing..."

"So, you think the staff was in a killing game like this?"

Soshun looked over his right shoulder. "Possibly, but there is really no way to prove that at the end of the day. I just get a feeling that people from Hope's Peak have gone through something like this before. Especially since we apparently lost _*years*_ of our memory."

Hajime thought about it, the possibility was still open, and he was uneasy about it, but he couldn't deny the chance that this wasn't the first killing game Monokuma had set up.

"Before you leave. Know this, I swear on my honor that not one of you will die here. Not you, and not anyone else."

Knowing that the president was so hopeful, and working round the clock made him feel all that much better about the scenario they found themselves in. Spending time with Soshun made Hajime feel part of something greater, the efforts to overcome this despair.

\---------

#3

 Hajime decided to spend more time with the President of the Student Council. 

"Hey Soshun."

The president smiled, it seemed his day was going better than the last time they spent time together, "Ready to pick up where we left off then, are we?"

"About what?"

"About the staff of Hope's Peak, my role models."

"Role models huh?"

"Yes. Say, do you have any yourself?"

"Well..." Hajime thought back to his feelings as he stood in front of the prestigious institution's gates for the very first time in his life, "I'm in the same boat as you. All my memories that I do have still... all I can remember is looking up to this school, and when I got the acceptance letter feeling proud of myself."

"But you don't remember all the details on that letter?"

"Huh... oh yeah, no, I don't think it said my talent on my letter."

"Do you still have it with you?"

"No... I think I left that at home for my mom to frame."

"Well, I definitely remember mine, and it said my talent on it. So yours likely had it as well, wouldn't you think?"

"Yeah, but uh," he felt the need to change subjects back to the staff. "Who there did you look up to most?"

"Hehe, what kind of question is that? There can only be one answer! And that was Headmaster Jin Kirigiri."

"May I ask the reason?"

"Of course, that's a much better question Hajime. It's because he is the best and most skilled headmaster in our entire nation!" Soshun raved for a while more, explaining what he knows regarding Kirigiri. "He always was the right balance of strict and lenient, and cared so deeply for all his students and potential students. I met with him only once before this school year, but I couldn't imagine a better principal. He was fit for leadership in every way and always wound up doing the right thing. That's why he keeps the legacy going. He's almost like a second coming of the founder, Izuru Kamukura!"

Hajime felt that he learned a lot here, but missed a few things, seeing as Soshun spoke faster and more flamboyantly than Hajime had ever seen before. The usual calmness and the president gave way in an instant to excitement. He was really proud of everyone and everything to do with this school.

...Which is why not knowing what happened or how many years it has been since the first day at school must be eating away at Soshun internally.

\---------

#4

 Before Hajime was even done approaching him, Soshun was ready to begin conversation. "I've been meaning to tell you a story of my youth, I hope it makes it clear why I work so hard at what I do."

So Hajime just sat back and listened, not saying a word unless prompted.

"Many years ago, at my primary school... I was too caught up in advancing my studies to make very many friends. But the friends I did make always were... lonelier than I was. There was one in particular that stood out to me in my memory this whole time.

A young girl... I found her in the play-field corner all the way back from a soccer game. At first I thought she'd been hurt and wondered why nobody sought the teacher to get medical attention, but as I approached her... I saw there were no bruises, cuts, scrapes. Anything of that nature. She was unharmed physically.

So I knelt down beside her and asked her what was wrong.

_My sister doesn't want to play games with me, she'd rather be with that stupid boy!_

So I asked her if she could talk to her sister about that, and asked where we could find her.

_Don't bother finding her... she ditched school entirely today to go to his house. A-and even if we could go get her, I can't let her... can't let her see me like this... can't see me be so weak, she'd make it worse._

I didn't want to ask her how her sister would make it worse, I didn't know how she'd react to that kind of prying. But anyway... I asked her what her name was.

_Mukuro. Mukuro Ikusaba._

I stayed behind to make her feel better, and even played with her. She wanted to be away from the other students so we went to the large rocks outside on the edge of the forest and playground to climb them,

It couldn't have been more than a half hour, but it felt almost endless, and during that time I realized that there were people out there that were in need of being brought together with some kind of leadership.

_This was fun Soshun! Ahahaha!_

I remember her hugging me, I only saw her one or two other times afterwards. The next time she alleged that she wasn't allowed to see me because "she wants me to feel as much misery and despair as possible" and wouldn't elaborate any further on who 'she' was..."

That story was, a bit incredible to say the least to Hajime it almost seemed like the girl was being manipulated and abused by the sister, though he wasn't sure if Soshun had ever considered that thought for very long.

After leaving his friend Hajime thought he got the point, along with thoughts tugging the back of his mind about the girl from the story.

...Mukuro Ikusaba. Where was she now? What would she do if she were in our predicament?

\--------

#5

'This is it...' Hajime thought, looking around the island and seeing his President standing in the distance by himself on the beach. 'The final hope shard for him and I to collect...'

"Greetings again Hajime."

"Hey Soshun."

"I just wanted to thank you for spending all this time with me, not many others here do that."

"Really? I'd think that since you were the Council President you'd have to be pretty popular."

"A common misconception... all I have to do is be convincing enough."

"Well, maybe they're just intimidating?"

"Do you think I'm intimidating?" Soshun shot back, sounding self-conscious.

"Um, well, no... but you know how some of the others can be."

The president rubbed a hand on his chin. "Quite possibly. If you get the time, you can tell them that I'm always available if they don't have anyone else to vent to."

Hajime nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." 

"And whatever happens in the coming days, just remember all the time we spent together, walking these shores. That I believe everyone will be fine. If anything happens to me though, I want you to step up and take a larger role in protecting them."

They shook hands, Soshun's grasp much stronger than his own, Hajime stopped himself from wincing. It was settled.

If anything happened to Soshun... Hajime would have to keep his promise and help support the remaining student council.

\----------------

And with that, all six hope shards for the combination of Hajime-Soshun have been collected! Congratulations!

[EARNED: Soshun's Undergarments]


	8. Ch. 2 Evil Cause, Evil Effect- Daily Life 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4: After the murder of Soshun Murasame and the execution of Nekomaru Nidai, the 18 remaining students try their best to keep things together. They explore the second island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to break this up into more parts to break up the workload, doing all of a day or two for a whole chapter made them rather lengthy and took too long (in my opinion) to get through all of it. 
> 
> So I cut this up to be about half of the first day. Part 2 will consist of the second 'half' of this chapter's first day, and the next days plot events, skipping free time (again I'm going to write freetimes for one single "new" character that will be posted at the end of Chapter 2; new meaning it'll be Ryota, Shinobu, or Yasuke since Soshun has already been covered), and day 3 up until the body discovery.
> 
> Then the "Deadly Life"/Investigation Chapter will be its own thing, followed by the trial, then the blackened's execution.

_"Let's make sure a killing like this never happens again."_

_"Let's do our best!"_

_"Let's definitely work together and leave this island!"_

The group kept repeating that to themselves as they left the trial and went back towards the cottages. Regardless of it being cheap and ultimately meaningless, it still helped to class calm down. A friend had been murdered. The culprit who did it, yet another one of their own friends, was then executed before everyone's eyes in a brutal fashion. Thus, the curtain closed on the class trial where Soshun and Nekomaru were sacrificed.

Hajime couldn't sleep after he had witnessed something like that. He gave up trying to sleep and began pacing the hotel grounds. He looked into the sky, and there it was. Just like before, the night sky was lit up with stars. Stars that looked like the could flutter down like snowflakes into his hand at any moment. As he looked up into that beautiful night sky... the thought "I could go anywhere." suddenly popped into his mind. The sky is connected to anywhere, which is why he believed he would be able to go home.

He stiffened, a new sensation washing over his body. As though... as though he was being watched.

\---------------

 “There’s a certain truth we’ve known since we were young…  
It’s not something we were _taught_ as such… but we learned it all the same, by observing this world in which we are engulfed…  
  
The hope-filled messages streaming from television, newspapers and the net all say the same thing.  
People who aren’t successful… People who don’t work hard… People who aren’t successful even though they _do_ work hard…  
  
…They are all alike. Worthless. Human garbage.

Worthy people and worthless people are set apart from the moment they’re born.  
  
Worthless people can try all they want. But they’ll never achieve worth…  
Thinking that hard work leads to success is a gross misunderstanding. The world is not that simple.  
  
A small dog can’t make itself big just by working…  
A penguin will never be able to fly, no matter how hard it tries…

In other words… everything worthless people do is, in fact, worthless.  
  
Talent isn’t something you can just… _get_. You have to be _born_ with it.  
That’s right… just like _you_ guys were. That’s why I revere all of you.  
  
Ah… I guess I should clarify something. What I’m talking about isn’t the same as looking up to someone.  
Looking up to someone is wanting to become like them someday. But I’m not that impertinent.  
  
My feelings… are _purer_ than that. They’re more like… unconditional love.

That’s why… I want you to believe me.  
I don’t mind if I die… So if that’s what you want, let me help you!  
  
I don’t even care whether the culprit survives, or the others do…  
…I just want both parties to do their best.  
  
All I want… is to see the "absolute hope” that lies on the other side.  
  
Yeah, I truly _am_ lucky!  
  
Someone like me, being able to witness the moment hope clashes against hope!

So, please… let me help you!  
  
If you wish to kill me, I want you to let me in on the plan.  
  
I want you to make me a stepping stone so everyone can shine… Let the circumstances of my death bring out-”

"SHUT. UP!"

\---------------

The atmosphere in the restaurant the next morning was tense. Two deaths happened yesterday, in the blur that it was, that felt like they were back to back. Soshun, stabbed in the back... Nekomaru, tossed around and thrown and hit as though he were a mere ball to be played with.

"Huh? Why the long faces everyone? You look like you've been attending funerals all morning." Saionji interrupted.

"But... with everything that's happened... Soshun was killed, and then... Nekomaru too..." stuttered out Mikan.

"I wasn't talking to you, ugly!"

"Hyaaa! W-why are you so mean to me?!"

Hiyoko looked pensive for a moment, "Well, ok. Mr. President dying was sad, but, there's no reason to feel sorry for Nekomaru is there? I mean, he was a murderer! A freak! Somebody like him deserved to die!"

Akane slammed down on the table before taking a lunge at Hiyoko "Alright, listen up you little punk!"

The gymnast had to be restrained by the Togami siblings and kept away from the dancer.

Hiyoko didn't look scared at all. "Oh? Are you saying it’s okay to defend a murderer? Do you think murder is ever justified?"

Akane kept growling, attempting to claw her way out of the others grips "You take that back!"

"Hah, don't hate me! You should hate him! You must detest him from the bottom of your heart. We’re talking about a guy who went ahead and did the worst possible thing a human can do. He was human waste. Of _course_ he had to die. That execution was refreshing. He should’ve let us go and spit on the body, too."

"Well you stink! You smell like a rotten sewer! Do you even bathe?!"

Gundam sniffed the air and his eyes got wide, "Kuh! ...This foul miasma taints the very soul!"

This comments finally got to Hiyoko, "I can't help it! I'm not able to tie my Kimono by myself!"

The small girl burst into tears before getting comforted by Mahiru "You guys don't get this whole 'delicacy' thing, do you?" she scolded them before turning back to Hiyoko. "It's okay, you don't need to cry Hiyoko, I'll help you with bathing and tying your kimono..."

She sniffled "...Really?"

"Yes. I don't know anything fancy, but I can teach you how to tie knots."

"Aww, that's kinda cute actually." Ryota commented from his little 'art corner' (Which was now labelled as such, tucked away from most of the other tables and out of sight due to the canvas mostly blocking him.)

And with that things felt a little lighter now, even with the fight that had been brewing. That situation was diffused, and all were rather cheered up by the display of friendship.

"Um... by the way... what happened to Nagito? He hasn't been here a-all morning."

Hajime noticed it too, "Hey, Mikan's right."

"Who cares about Nagito? It's better that he's not here!"

Gundam nodded in agreement with Akane, "That one lives a cursed existence. He is the embodiment of misfortune and ill-omens, bringing with him ruin upon everywhere he treads."

Hajime sighed, "That... that isn't wrong, but,"

"But nothing, if he's out of my hair and out of my sight than that's much better." Yasuke says, standing up after closing the book he was reading this morning.

"Yeah! We certainly have no idea where that guy went anyway!" Kazuichi said, arm wrapping around the neurologists shoulder.

"Please don't touch me." Yasuke deadpanned.

Chiaki cocked her head and squinted. "That's a bit suspicious... isn't it?"

Kaz shot back "Wh-what's so suspicious about that?"

That was when Monokuma finally reared his ugly head again. "What's going on here, was somebody kidnapped?"

Byakuya looked at the headmaster sternly. "Why are you even here?"

"Well... actually... I was looking for something too, one of my faithful Monobeasts has gone missing!" Monokuma continued to ramble as Hajime wondered about what a missing Monobeast would mean for the class. "Hmm... maybe I shouldn't have cut back so much on the pet food budget, you don't think it went on strike do you?"

As per usual, Gundam returned these comments with a bizarre ramble of his own. "He was the weakest of the four great demons... it is a disgrace to the Monobeasts that he lost to mere humans! ...Is that what you were saying? Our little tale is still in its prelude, the climax is still yet to come. Let us hear your battle cry!"

"What?" Monokuma put a paw up to his mouth.

"Tch, stop messing around with that teddy bear."

"Well... since you bastards don't seem to have any idea where my Monobeast is, I'll just have to find him myself! ...And besides, we have eyes on the front of our faces so we can always face forward into the future!"

Almost as soon as he'd left, Monomi had appeared before them, seemingly excited about something. "Guys! Guys! I have something immpowtant to say!"

"Ah god, we just got done dealing with the other one, and now you're here too?" Yasuke complained.

"Uwuu... pwease be kinder to your teacher... just for now?"

Chiaki spoke up, "Ah, well, maybe she knows about the Monobeast that we just heard about going missing?"

"Thaaaat's wight! I did that! I oblitewated it all by myself! And the bridge gate is now open!"

"So... does that mean that we can go explore another island?"

"Yep! And with more room, hopefully you can all live a happy life here wif wuv and fwiendship! Wuv wuv!"

"W…We’re not after a friendly life together… Let’s go look for a way off the island instead…" Mikan stuttered.

"Huh?" Monomi was surprised.

Ibuki interrogated the plush bunny, "Did any of us ask for some Hollywood-style action-adventure, huh?!"

The other students were starting to get revved up about exploring the new island for a way to get out. Kazuichi ready to run off into the distance as he exclaimed, "Right! Anyone finds something we can use to make a boat, you bring it to me!"

A course of voices joined him soon, Gundam adding, "Fuhahaha! It is decided – we disperse! Our task; to seek a means to break this infuriating seal!"

And Akane was rearing to go as well "Alright! Let’s find a way off this island!"

Monomi teared up, muttering to herself, "That's... impossible. Leaving the island... is no longer possible..."

"No longer? Hey, what do you..." Before Hajime could finish, the teacher had already ran off just as Monokuma had before her.

"Just ignore her, I don't exactly like what she may be trying to do." Byakuya said before he lead the rest away, leaving Hajime all by himself. Was Monomi really an enemy here? It was obvious what Monokuma was, but the rabbit and self-appointed teacher wasn't clearly in either camp if the rumors so far from Monokuma regarding memory loss had indeed been true.

\--------------

Sure enough, checking the island out now Hajime could immediately see several buildings, one in particular standing out so much he decided to go to it first. There was a huge, abandoned building that appeared to be an ancient ruin overgrown with trees. He walked up to it and saw Yasuke and Chiaki already there.

They appeared to be chatting and walking towards it, so he followed behind until noticed.

"Hey, Hajime, this stood out to you too huh?" Yasuke asked.

"Well yeah, kinda hard to miss the giant spires with vegetation growing all around them while every other building so far has been fairly normal."

"So... what is this building here for anyway?" Chiaki wondered out loud, pulling her hood up over her head. "You guys can go explore, I'm... going to take a closer look here."

Something about this building didn't sit right, it's architecture looked far more modern than it should if it were really just an ancient ruin. But he'd worry about that later.

Hajime proceeded onward to the library and saw a handful of people were already inside. Shinobu, Peko, Kazuichi, and Sonia.

Shinobu was busy dusting off various books, moving swiftly through the library and taking out a stack of books along the way. Meanwhile it seemed Sonia had found a brochure of some kind, Kazuichi looking through it alongside her, while Peko watched over all of them carefully.

"This is such a huge library, yet there are no other human beings in sight. Just as I thought... it might be safe to assume this island is uninhabited." Peko said, seemingly talking to herself, but loud enough to overhear.

Sonia and Kazuichi looked up, smiling. "Hey Hajime!"

"Yes Hajime, what it, how you say, up?"

"Just you know... exploring this new island like you guys."

"I see... this facility, it is similar in scope to my homeland's national library."

"Yeah! Sonia was just telling me about all the books they got books in all sorts of languages, even ones I never heard of before! ...God I wish I could go there."

"Isn't it a bit odd though... why does a resort need a library like this?"

"True... and nobody is here to use it."

Kazuichi tried (and failed) to look laid back, "Haha, yeah, the only people around here being us is a little strange."

Monomi thus inserted herself into this scene, "Tadaaa! Monomi is here! I was weading a book! Ah, since you're all here, would you like me to explain this libwary to you?"

"Oh... I see."

"You still wook twoubled..."

"...Anyway, weren't you here to explain something?"

"Well, you’re all students, aren’t you? I thought you might appweciate having a nice place where you can concentwate on your studies! So I pwepared this libwary! It’s a place where everybody can study in peace and harmony. That’s what being a student is all about."

"Stop talking like you're our teacher" Hajime muttered. "I understand you less than Monokuma, who the hell are you? And what do you even want?"

"T-twue identity..." Monomi ran off as soon as things got uncomfortable for her, just like usual.

Kazuichi interuppted, "Um... I'm pretty sure that she's a liar, at the very least. Look here, Sonia, can you read what the brochure here says underneath the picture of this library?"

The princess agreed. "It says that there are supposed to be many rich tourists, and all of their money was used to fund this library.

"Well, that seems to settle it, this library was always here, and Monomi had nothing to do with creating it." Hajime commented.

Sonia frowned, "Well yes, but there's also something else odd about the brochure that has nothing to do with this library. It seems..." she paused, gathering more words, "It says here that Jabberwock Island is a resort composed of 5 surrounding islands, with the central island holding a large administrative building on it. But we haven't seen any buildings like that, the only thing on the central island is the park..."

"You're right... is, is this an old manual or something? Maybe it's outdated?" Souda laughed nervously. 

"And what's more is... in the lobby of the building is a statue that represents the island itself."

"The one that turned into those Monobeasts? Damn it..." The mechanic was really worried looking now.

Hajime furrowed his brow "But that wasn't in a building, that was out in the open." 

Sonia continued, "And it says the only way between all of the islands was by boat. Bridges were proposed, but the idea was shot down out of concern for the environment"

"Then... then what were those bridges that we used to get here?"

"Is this... do we know if this is actually Jabberwock Island then?"

"Ah!" Sonia gasped, "Could this be an artificial island like Palm Jumeira, made to look like a replica..."

"Palm whatnow?..."

"No, no wait... I take that back, it would be impossible for an island of this size to be artificial..." Sonia looked down at her feet.

Monokuma now popped into the picture. "Aha! An artificial island! That's some sharp thinking! But such an undertaking could only be made by _those_ guys!"

"Those guys?" they questioned the bear.

"Yknow, that large organization you guys were talking about a while ago." Monokuma was nonchalant.

"W-who are you talking about?"

Monokuma almost immediately split from the scene as quickly as he arrived, commenting that he had already said too much, and din't want them to know about the rest.

Sonia then got to reading something, mumbling about it being interesting. Hajime asked what the magazine was about. "It’s the latest issue of an occult magazine whose mission is to uncover all kinds of mysterious underground mysteries! I…It’s not like I read it every month! But they have a special feature on serial killers this time!"

"Wow Miss Sonia, that is really interesting!"

"On this page they have a special feature about Genocide Jack! He's Japan's representative serial killer. All those who follow the scene know about him, and even if you don't you've probably heard the name."

Kaz tugged at his hat. "Genocide Jack huh? Ain't he the guy that writes "BLOOD LUST" at all of his crime scenes?"

"That is exactly the one!" Sonia exclaimed. "Though there are rumors that he's actually a high-school aged girl wearing a sailor uniform! So please be careful!"

Hajime kept his snarky comments about how many schoolgirls lived in Japan inside his mind.

She went on, "But moving on from him, the one I'm really interested in here is _Sparkling Justice_. Nobody knows their age or their gender, all that is known is that they consider themselves a Warrior of Justice! A delightful serial killer that wears masks of heroes from all over the world, killing off criminals one-by-one! An air of mystery is indispensable for a serial killer! So he scores most high on that account!"

"Um, excuse me.." Shinobu butted in. "But, are you talking about serial killers right now? At a time like this..."

"Of course!" Sonia said happily.

"It er, it doesn't exactly feel appropriate you know... with what's happened so far... that's all" the Togami sister rubbed the back of her neck "Well, um, I'll be reading books over here then."

Hajime decided he'd explore a little bit more, a few more locations around the island still required his attention.

He walked to the pharmacy, glancing past it outside he saw Gundam, and looking through the glass windows and doors he could see Mikan quickly tiptoeing carefully between shelves. He decided to check on the nurse first.

As always, Mikan was... interesting to talk to. She had begun yelling excitedly about getting any attention at all that wasn't negative. They began to talk about what she found in their, and that lead to a highly uncomfortable offer of "If you don't feel well, come find me, I'll give you lots of shots! Lots and looooooots of shots."

Tanaka stood silently until Hajime walked by him. "Halt! Inside this so-called pharmacy realm... is there any dark medicinal arts appropriate of my devas?"; (That could only be vet supplies for his hamsters.)

"U-um, I don't know, but Mikan said she should be able to cure most illnesses, so mayb that includes non-humans too?"

"Ahahaha! That is great news Boring One."

A bead of sweat dripped down Hajime's contorted face. Out of everyone here, this guy was definitely at the top of the "most flamboyant personality" list.

After that... happened, outside of the diner Teruteru's face was lit up brightly as he was chattering giddily to Byakuya all about what he'd be able to do with this new Diner available, and how it reminded him of Aoyama and Azabu. The acting president turned when he heard the footsteps behind the two of them. "Oi, oi! Hajime. How have the others been progressing?"

"Oh, um," he paused, "I think we're doing really well, no clues for escape yet though. Mostly just information about this island."

"Hmm, I'll go see that then now, where did you find it?"

"It was just back that way in the library."

Byakuya thanked him and took his leave, Teruteru still engrossed in his excitement for the new diner. So he could be left alone to do his thing.

Next Hajime went down the street, following the sign that said there was a beach ahead. He saw a beach house, but opted to go around the corner to investigate what was behind it. Here he saw Ibuki with her arm around Akane's shoulder as the two of them looked out into the waves. Soft sobs and shush noises reaching his ears even from the other end of this beach. This must be about yesterday...

Hajime left them alone and entered the house behind him to look inside and see if anybody was in here. Sure enough the space with the least amount of people had Ryota Mitarai.

The animator appeared to be looking into a minifridge, shutting the door when he feels a presence behind him. "O-oh hey! Hajime, it's just you!" he laughed and cracked a smile. "I thought for sure it was one of those pesky stuffed animals."

"Ugh, tell me about it. They always pop up when I least want them to."

"Do you think its..." Ryota jerked his head toward the camera on the ceiling, biting his lip.

"Yeah, I can't think of any other reasons those cameras and monitors would be here for."

"This reminds me of a book I read a-after being commissioned to draw a manga adaptation of it. This guy that was called Big Brother was the leader of this country, and h-he had um, he had screens almost exactly like these watching the citizens."

"Yeah, this kind of makes me uncomfortable even thinking about changing into a swimsuit here."

"Waaait!" Monomi popped in yet again, "You awen't awwowed to! That's forbidden! If someone decides to shamelessly peek, it would be tewibble!"

Rushing in after her came in the other one, carrying a large machine gun full of ammo. "W…Where is it?! Who’s breaking the rules?! I’ll blow them away right now, no questions asked!"

Ryota gasped, "O-oh my god... he really is like the military dictator in that book."

"Aww… I wanted to shoot it so much… I know that I can’t… but I really want to!"

Monomi was shocked, "H-have some self contwol!"

Monokuma put the sling back over his shoulders, muzzle pointing upwards. "I… shall endure. I have an iron will, so I can endure until someone breaks some rules!"

That was... something to say the least. Hajime turned and reached to open the door, but before he could Chiaki came through it urgently. "Hajime! Ryota! Um... can you guys come out here and please come to the ruins?"

\---------------------

**Monokuma Theater**

 "Desbearate times call for desbearate measures! I know this from one time long ago. I haven't felt desbearation in a long time, so I need to think back years to the last time I felt it. You see... it was sort of like right now in a way, but I was backed into a corner. This guy was toooootally macking on me, but he was such a dweeb I wasn't interested, and turned the tables so that he was in the corner instead. His mom put him in a corner too! Upupupu, he got grounded for playing inappropriately with his stuffed toys.

That's why you force your kids to read the instructions manual first!"


	9. Ch. 2 Evil Cause, Evil Effect- Daily Life 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class begins investigating the ruins more closely. Monokuma shows up and tells them about the organization known as the "World Ender" and how the traitor is one of them. Afterwards, Nagito is revealed to have been tied up in the Burned Building's dining hall. Another day passes without any incident before Monokuma unveils his new motive.
> 
> An arcade game titled "Be My Despair"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this one took so much longer than all the other ones did. This one took about a month or so longer for me to complete than the previous chapter. Schoolwork really caught up with me this quarter, especially towards the end of it. The next chapter should be fairly quickly finished by comparison.

The students gathered around in front of the ancient ruins, apparently Chiaki had been sent out to collect the other students. It was as Hajime had assumed, this building proved to be the most interesting and mysterious. There was the Japanese word for future, "Mirai" written on the metallic door after they dusted it off. And it looked almost exactly like... Hope's Peak Academy, surely that must just be a coincidence. Because Hope'S Peak was in Japan, and this clearly wasn't Japan. And buildings in this shape exist all over the world.

Breaking up that train of thought for Hajime was the collection of conversations going on around him. It seemed like nobody there discovered anything that would help them leave. He asked around a bit to see if anybody knew where Nagito went, and nobody knew. Though Kazuichi seemed really nervous when he was asked. 

The mystery somehow wound up getting deeper when Monokuma showed up again. He laughed a bit, mocking the fact that most of them have shown up looking dazed and confused "Like a deer in the heaadlights of a car! Upupu!" the bear laughed.

"Oi, can you get to the point Monokuma? You've been getting on our nerves by appearing and disappearing repeatedly to everyone so you can spew your bizarre nonsense." Byakuya pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Nonsense?!"" Monokuma blushed, "Golly gee, I hope you guys don't think I'm some kind of crazy person or anything..."

"U-um, excuse me if I'm wrong," Mikan piped up, "But I don't quite think th-that making high schoolers murder each other is something a not-crazy person does..." The bear just glared at her. "Eeep! I'm soooorry!"

Hiyoko snickered, elbowing the nearby Peko, "She even apologizes to stuffed tanuki plushes, what a sad bitch."

"But yeah..." Monokuma sighed, "Even I'm not too sure about what this building is... buuuuut! I do think that the traitor knows!"

Yasuke's interest was finally piqued, "Hmm? You say that the traitor would know what the building here is for?"

"Yeah, I'm just sayin' it kindaaaa looks like something that World Ender would build."

"Wh-what's the world ender?" Hajime asked.

"Oh, yeah about that... the world ender is well... exactly how it sounds it is! Those guys ended the world! Ended it all, boom, pow, bang! Everything in the outside world has crumbled! And that's why you're all here!"

A panic started, a panic not much unlike when Monokuma first showed up, not much unlike the "comedy show" he used as the first motive, and not much unlike the moment everyone realized that one of them did the unthinkable and put a murderous plot into motion  by interrupting the party via lighting a fiery blaze just yards away outside.

"Ended the world? I don't get it." Byakuya snapped, "What do you mean these guys ended the world? Are they terrorists?"

The bear thought about it pensively, "Hmm, yeah, I guess that 'terrorist' would be a pretty good way of describing them. But terrorists is a name given to losers! And these guys won! So they're more like... the heroes that destroyed the world!"

"And are you and Monomi a part of this group?"

"Upupupu... well, I'm not, I don't care much about politics, the traitor, and bringing you to this island was all part of the plan of the World Ender group!"

He left them all with tension that might have even been too strong for a knife to cut. Everyone was ready to disperse, nobody knowing what to say, muttering to themselves about how crazy this island was. Killing games? Traitors? The world ended? Hajime would definitely have remembered something like the world ending due to a large terrorist network.

"Tch, this bear just keeps saying more horseshit to get you guys to do something dumb, doesn't he? And you people eat it up, because just about all of you are complete morons. I'm surprised there was only one murder attempted so far to be quite frank."

He immediately abandoned them again, leaving Ibuki to comment, "At this rate the word 'frank' should be changed to 'yasuke'..." and nervously laughing before she too left.

Followed by everybody else splitting up after Chiaki told them all that it was starting to get late.

[END OF DAY]

\--------------

"Ah, uh, okay. This is an announcement from Hope's Peak Field Trip Executive Committee. It is now 7 AM! It is a perfect tropical day! So, let's enjoy it for all it's worth!"

Hinata was drowsy, being here made it incredibly difficult to fall asleep. He walked outside of his cabin and ran almost immediately into Gundam. 

"Waste not my time with your drivel human... Today the winds carry the souls of the honest one and the boisterous one... What destiny awaits them? The warm bosom of the Holy Mother, or the flames of Gehenna? You ought offer them a prayer, son of man. Who knows… it might just save their souls."

As always, Gundam Tanaka never changes.

Everyone else appeared to have gone inside the hotel already, save for Ibuki, who greeted Hajime with "Good morning", but with several more additional 'mo's that he couldn't even hope to keep track of. "Did you count how many times Ibuki said “mo”?!"

"Not really..." he said, not ready for this kind of thing this early.

"Hyaaaaa! Your cool, indifferent stare gives Ibuki shivers all over!"

In the lobby Akane and Mahiru were seated on the couch. 

"Oh, good morning Hajime!" Mahiru said, smiling and waving, giving a nudge to Akane's side so that she looked up, and seeing him there she too flashed a grin.

"It's not like me to be so gloomy like this, huh?" she got up, arms going around Hajime (surprising him) "It's uh... yeah, this is just because I'm hungry! So, uh, I guess I'll go get breakfast now..." the gymnast began the trip upward upon releasing him. Mahiru looking at this scene, getting caught blushing as soon as Hajime turned to the photographer again.

"Huh, what's that look on your face all about?"

"O-oh, it was nothing. I think the thermostat in here is a little to high, yeah that's it." she tugged at her collar before running off too.

"How bizarre..." he muttered.

Chiaki looked up from her game. "Oh?"

"Ah, hey there Chiaki. Do you know if those two were talking about anything?"

"Who?"

"Mahiru and Akane, they were just here like a second ago."

"Nope." she said, focusing on her game, smashing the red 'fire' button multiple times consecutively while jerking the joystick sideways.

"Nothing?"

"Not one thing. I've been paying attention to this... it's really fun."

"I see..." Hajime turned to leave but someone grabbed him, it was Chiaki, still half focused on completing the game.

"Hold up, I'm not finished with this level at, I'll come with you as soon as its over."

\--------------

Immediately upon Hajime entering the restaurant, Kaz showed up. "Right on time! So whaddya think?"

"You’re gonna have to tell me what you’re talking about first."

"It’s obvious, innit?! The traitor! The World Destroyers! All that stuff! How ‘bout it? You figured anything out yet?"

"It’s been one night. How could I possibly have figured anything out?"

Now it seemed really obvious, but a few of them were more than a little desperate to get out, should what befell the president and the coach befall them as well.

"Besides, I haven't been able to sleep so well." the swordswoman said, "with all those cryptic stories we've been told."

"C-could it be true?" the animator said, literally shivering and shaking, "That there's..."

Mikan finished his sentence for him, "That there's a traitor among us?"

"Don’t worry! There is no need to worry about the traitor!" Kazuichi insisted.

"B-but what if worst comes to worst and..."

"No, nothing will happen! There's no need to worry about the traitor any more!"

Hiyoko glared at him suspiciously. "Huh? Why are you so sure of yourself now?"

"Because he's already been tied up!"

"Eh? Tied up?" Hajime questioned.

 Yasuke slammed his book on the table. "You absolutely useless blabbermouth son of a bitch!"

"B-blabbermouth?!"

The neurologist sighed and looked more disappointed than that of a father whose kid just struck out during a game of tee ball. "Yes, you weren't supposed to tell them about that."

Hajime interrupted the quarrel. "Wait, what do you mean we weren't supposed to know? You were involved with this too?"

Yasuke's eye twitched. "Yes. Yes, it was my idea. But you should all sympathize with it shouldn't you? The guy practically murdered two people and used a loophole in the rules to escape punishment for it. He's dangerous and we should treat him as such until further notice. Though... I'm not too sure where Kazuichi's insistence of him as the traitor came from."

"Well... wouldn't the traitor want to kick of the killing games just like Nagito said he wanted to?" said the man with pink hair.

"As of right now we don't even know if that's an actual thing Kaz. We're just treating him as a culprit."

"And so you tied him up..." Peko commented "Well, it was inevitable. That man, indeed, is dangerous."

This began a lively discussion of how "creepy to the max" their white-haired former comrade was. Complete with Gundam going an a speech about how impossible it was to relate to Nagito's motives and actions.

Byakuya stepped in to quash this discussion, demanding Yasuke tell the class where himself and the mechanic had stored the lucky student. As it turned out it was in the dining room of the building that Nagito was responsible for the arson of during the incident a couple of days ago. It was revealed the two of them had chosen that location to force him to contemplate the loss of life and property he had been responsible for. Though, all of this led to worries that Nagito could die if they forget to allow him food and water.

Hajime wound up being the person that would deliver him foodstuffs, even though he really didn't want to. Nagito's betrayal and screwed up views on hope had put him off seeing the others face for at least the rest of this island trip, if not his entire lifespan. Alas, duties were duties and the student counsel willed it, Byakuya and Shinobu insisting because Hajime had "known him the best"

He spent the rest of the day after giving Nagito some water, toast, and various leftovers from the meal the rest had just finished up. A few conversations were held, most of them consisting of awkwardly dancing around bizarre comments the thin-framed boy made about Hajime or the rest of his classmates. It was during this time Hajime realized how sick Nagito looked. Not sick as in mentally ill, though that remained a likely possibility, this sickness was physical. Nagito was pale, and while observing him it had hit Hajime just how unnatural it was for such a young person to have that color of hair.

After the dinner with Nagito he ran into Teruteru, who invited him to come to the restaurant on the second island around noon the next morning because he had heard a rumor about something and wanting to investigate it. Hajime tentatively agreed to this, not knowing what else to do, but he figured Teruteru had overheard one of the girls planning something and wanted in on this. Something that was not surprising at all given his past behavior.

It was night time and Hajime was about to head to sleep when the monitor in his room crackled to life with Monokuma's voice "Um, This is an announcement from Hope’s Peak Academy’s Field Trip Executive Committee…" the bear continued, "Emergency! Emergency! You bastards’ presence is urgently requested at Jabberwock Park! Hurry up! I will treat the student who arrives the fastest to my special curry rice tomorrow evening! I said, hurry up!"

Hajime sighed, wondering just who that request was meant to trick, but as he had no choice in this matter he walked over to see what this hellspawn wanted.

"Where's my curry?!" Akane called out, sniffing around the park. Hajime could hear her there before he even turned the corner. Yep, there was the answer to what type of person would fall for that, of course it was her.

"Well, I'm sure that whatever this curry is it can't beat mine, so Akane, would you prefer to take up my offer?" Surely Teruteru's height would be his excuse should anyone call him on staring directly at her tits.

The rest of the students now piled into the park at their own pace. Several begging for the bear to tell them what he wanted this time, lengthy amounts of back and forth snips and barbs occurring before Monokuma got "bored" of it.

"Tadaaa! That arcade machine over there is for a lovely little game I like to call "Be My Despair" Upupu!"

Chiaki was half drooling at this point, a new arcade game? Why wouldn't an Ultimate Gamer be excited for this? That was before the bear went into his full explanation.

"So, this is a special treat! It's a simulation-style game I created, based on true events! And all of these events, well, they happened to some of you guys! But you ah... you all kind of can't remember what happened, and thats a shame, because all of this was really interesting. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that... you will regain some of your missing memories by playing this machine! How does that sound?"

Yasuke promptly snorted. "Tsch, this shit again? I'd assumed you'd be more original the second time around with your motives. Looks like I overestimated you Bear."

"Bear? I'm Monokuma, you're headmaster! Respect me!"

"No, listen Bear, I don't care about you or this dumb game. As long as I'm not violent towards you I'm not breaking the rules right? That doesn't mean I need to respect you."

Monokuma laughed harder than previously seen. "Alright, alright. Oh boy, you're fucking killing me dude. Here, how about this. Check your handbook now."

The class did as they were told, several gasping and cursing under their breaths.

_New Rule: Disrespectful language directed at the headmaster is forbidden, and will earn students a "time out"_

"Thanks a lot asshole." Fuyuhiko said to Yasuke, whjo was now kicking himself mentally and hung his head in shame.

"Yeah, I do fully realize my responsibility for this new rule, I hadn't thought he'd actually go through with something like this."

"W-w-well<" Ryota stuttered, "At least uh... at least it doesn't say we'll get executed for it, right?" the animator smiled sheepishly, clinging to the very small amount of hope remaining in the atmosphere.

As for the meeting of students here, Monokuma called it off and said that the important part was over and let them go freely back to their rooms as they wanted to. It seems everyone wanted that desperately and took the chance to go to sleep.

But Hajime couldn't sleep, so he went to go investigate the game some time after midnight, but before the break of dawn arrived.

He had to investigate that game and find out about it's contents...

Hajime stood in front of this machine and pushed the button with his finger, starting the game and fading the title screen out.

\-------------

**_Attention_ **

**_The events, characters, and organizations depicted in this videogame are non-fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, was entirely deliberate._ **

_Day 1:_

Two people, Guy A and Girl C, were having a conversation. The girl gushed about how great it was that the two of them got together. They were merrily going along until running into a person labelled as "Guy B", who shoves his way by A without even looking at the two of them. The couple then make several remarks about how bizarre Guy B had been acting recently. Their scene ends and Hajime is then put in the shoes of Guy B, who he moves around the level that looked to be a school dorm and clicked the button to go inside of the room.

Once inside his room Guy B curses about Guy A in frustration and gets on his knees crying about how much better he would be with C. A pink narration text box appears describing this as a moment in which B inched to the very brink of his sanity and closer to causing him to dive headlong into despair.

"What the? This game isn't very... game like. Is this what it feels like to play a bad game?"

_Day 3:_

Guy B runs into an entirely new character after Hajime directs him through a path down several hallways. This one was labelled oddly, instead of D as Hajime expected, this characters name was "Guy E".

B begs E to tell him to do something to help, and wonders if there was a way to "cure" how he had felt about the girl so he could forget about it. E responds that he would "Consider looking into what [he] could do about that."

Hajime grew increasingly disturbed at the turn of events taking place. He shook it off, knowing that Monokuma was no doubt trying to fuck with him here. There was no way that this kind of thing actually transpired with friends of his he had just met.

The scene shifted again, this time to Guy A and Girl C, who are standing outside of a room in a poorly lit segment of the school. And this string of dialogue really intrigued him for its further oddity:

C: "A... I don't think we're allowed to be here."

A: "Nonsense, if we get caught I'll just tell them I was looking for-"

C: "Do you feel that?"

A: "Indeed. It seems we're getting closer."

What are they looking for? Why are they there? Why shouldn't they be there? His train of questions was stopped by the appearance of a new, shadowy figure in a room the two were made to enter when he moved the joystick to the right. This figure was Guy F.

F: "Huh, I don't tend to get a lot of visitors."

C: "S-sorry! Forgive us for intruding Sir, but we are here to tell you about our troubles with Guy B, because of your immense talent, we were sure that you'd know what to do about him."

F: "Oh? What is it that this guy is doing to the two of you? Make it quick so I don't  stay bored."

A: "He seems to try and place a curse on my with his eyes of evil whenever I pass by him with my girlfriend. Which is the young lady accompanying me at this time."

C: *bows* "Yes. And I in particular find this strange due to his prior friendliness and gifts he imparted to me.

F: "Hmmm, it sounds like a textbook case of jealousy... if he keeps this up you can report him to the administration, or if you want I can talk to him. People tend to listen to me when I talk to them. I find it weird but I'm important in their eyes. But that kind of treatment just bores me... It bores me so much."

C: "Thank you so much F-san!"

She then quickly dragged A away by the arms, leaving F to sigh and talk about how pointless the encounter with the two of them had felt.

The screen cut to a red "GAME OVER" paint splatter.

Hajime wondered if he had done something wrong, because it seemed out of place to skip over day two, and the ending of day three was completely unsatisfactory to him. "It couldn't have just... ended right there could it?"

He shook it off and went back to his cabin to sleep until the morning arrived.

[END OF DAY]

\-------------

The morning after the announcement about this arcade machine was made immediately started with a meeting regarding it. Byakuya was imploring all of them to stay away from the game, and let somebody guard it so nobody would get a chance to play it.

"Pff, if you really wanted to keep everyone away you would have set up a guard last night."

"Are you questioning the student council's leadership?"

"Perhaps, I mean, under your guys watchful eyes we've already suffered the loss of two of us." Yasuke smirked.

"I wouldn't be posturing to lead a mutiny if I were you, after all, you and I do seem to agree on most things. Like Monokuma being our main enemy."

"And we can't beat him if our leadership is an incompetent lardass and his yes-woman. I swear, Soshun was annoying but he was more suitable for the job than either of you ever would be."

"You... if you knew from the beginning then why didn't you give me this suggestion yesterday?"

"Why? Oh, mostly because, here lemme think just a second... because I don't give a fuck is why."

The affluent one's fist balled up, his face red like none of the students had seen it before. "How can you say that? You're one of us! Why don't you care?"

"It ain't my job to "protect" this class. I believe you appointed yourself and your cronies to do that job." the neurologist said, a smirk not once leaving his features.

"Tsk." Byakuya pushed his glasses up. "Well, looks like it's not worth continuing this line of conversation... Peko, would you like to guard the machine?"

"Sure, I have no problems with thi-" she got caught off guard by Fuyuhiko interrupting her,

"But what if she plays it?"

The leader nodded. "Then, I'm assuming you want to volunteer?"

The yakuza blushed, looking down and pinching his face, before bringing himself back to full composure. "Yes. B-but only to make sure she doesn't do anything funny is all."

Peko agree to this, and they were sent on their way with leftovers in a box for when lunch time rolled around and it was still mid-shift.

It was then that Teruteru showed up to remind Hajime of this afternoon, allowing him time to prepare. Hajime saw someone wearing a long scarf off in the distance carrying something under their arm. Not many students here wore scarves... but it was impossible to see any features to confirm who he thought it was, they seemed to be going to the central island though. Moving on Hajime went to the market and took some water and snacks from the vending machine to bring for later before walking over to meet with Teruteru to see what he wanted.

It was an just less than an hour later when he got to the parking lot in front of that diner he heard a sudden, piercing yelp, followed by Teruteru stumbling out of the door.

"Oh my god... ohmygodohmygod, this is so bad, this is the worst... fucking god damn it." the chef started to tear up, clutching his hair.

"What happened?"

"The murder game has started again! Shit shit damnit shitshitshit."

"It'll be okay, just calm down. Wait here Teruteru. Calmly tell me what's happening." Hajime placed his hands firmly on the shorter male's shoulders.

"Gundam... he's in... his corpse is in the diner!"

"Gundam?" Hajime questioned.

"Y-yes, he was" the chef sniffed, "I found him unresponsive just now, laying on the table, and he spilled a drink on the ground. His hamsters look worried."

The two were then joined by a group of girls: Peko, Mahiru, and Hiyoko.

"What's going on over here?" asked the swordswoman.

Teruteru tried to explain it to them but was too freaked out to speak in anything than unintelligible heavy-accented babble. So Hajime led the others inside and found quite a scene.

The floor was covered in shattered glass, water, and ice cubes. And the Dark Devas were desperately attempting to wake their owner, who refused to get up off the table, face and shoulders directly on the table in front of him. Hajime put his fingers to the side of his neck and check for a pulse. "His heart's still beating, he's not gone yet!"

It was now that the group was interrupted by Kazuichi and the Togami siblings.

"Guys, whats going on over here?" Byakuya asked. "Kazuichi says we need to check in the library."

"Miss Sonia is..." Kazuichi added, "she's went missing and now... I just hope that she's not dead..."

"Something happened here with Gundam too" Hajime told him, "He's still alive. So, please go get Mikan and see what she can do for him."

They split off and in the confusing ruckus Hajime found himself throwing the doors open and entering yet another murder scene. The lights in the library were dim and he couldn't see anything inside, the several people stood behind him as he took steps closer to a rhythmic dripping noise. He begged for that to just be water, but as soon as his eyes adjusted to this environment he froze in place and looked at the back table of this room, blood running along it in streams, several of which led over the edge and to the floor.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLIBuXMYH9g]

And the source of that blood? A matted mess of long blonde hair, sitting in a chair and slumped over the wooden table, in much the same manner as the found Gundam just moments before... was the Ultimate Princess of the Kingdom Novoselic, Sonia Nevermind.

_Ding dong, dong ding. A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, everyone will meet for the class trial!_

[END OF DAILY LIFE]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. Okay, so as usual I encourage you readers to try and piece together the events and make a prediction for the investigation and the trial! Who was in that game? What motive could it have given the killer? Which characters have been acting suspicious? What the hell is going on here?


	10. Ch. 2 Evil Cause, Evil Effect: Deadly Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second murder has occurred, and the investigation to find the murder of Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess commences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just like last investigation, I'm dropping you a few hints by underlying the most important findings about this case. Feel free to continue guessing the killer and their exact reasoning for what they did, and how they did this in the comments.
> 
> (Also sorry for being late again, I'm really bad with procrastinating sometimes, I can't blame this entirely on college, though that is a part of it.)

Hajime couldn't believe that it had happened again. Some time today, just a few short moments ago now from the looks of things another classmate has been murdered. Looking at the rest of the library showed very little damage to anywhere other than the very back set of tables, which looked like something was going on at the scene of the crime right before it occurred.

Giving it a second look over once the lights were flicked on gave a clearer picture to the class. On that center table was the victim, and the victims blood. Underneath that table was what was assumed to be the weapon, a metal baseball bat. To the left was a stack of books and scattered papers. and on the table to the right was a discarded mask depicting some sort of anime protagonist with a single black glove on top of it, a message scrawled in blood underneath.

_JUSTICE_

While everyone was still gathering their emotions, Souda crying out in agony about the crime, Monokuma arrived to give them his file of grizzly details. This was his second Monokuma file, so Hajime knew that most of the pertinent information would be on this file.

\-----

Victim: Sonia Nevermind, Ultimate Princess

Time of Death: Shortly after10:00 AM

Cause of Death: Blunt Force Trauma to the Skull, Fracturing

Other Notes: Died instantly from the impact, has other injuries around her wrists and neck that appear unrelated to the bat.

\------

"Y'know..." their headmaster said, "If you guys keep killing with such style I might just have to hold a judge's panel for who killed with the most flare! Damn these a like a mix of classic and brand new ingenuity in creating despair at the same time! Like, first there was laying out the victim in a cross and now we have justice being declared with the swing of a bat! Upupu, what will you kids think of next?"

"D-damn it... damn you... you made this happen." Souda muttered, holding his head in his hands, hunched over as though in pain. "You killed all of those people, and you're probably going to kill-"

The Neurologist put a hand on his back, tapping lightly and telling the Mechanic that he should calm down before taking him outside for a breathe of fresh air.

Byakuya then stood up and declared that "It looks like Kazuichi will be sitting this investigation out." the president sighed, pushing his glasses up, "So that means that I want all of you to work extra hard in unraveling this case to make up for his absence, as well as the loss of Nekomaru a few days ago." He continued, "Myself, Shinobu, and Mikan will go off to attend the other victim and make sure that nothing too grievous happened to him."

Chiaki looked over the bloody message, running her finger along it to make sure that it was dried. Unlike the pool beneath Sonia. She turned, "Hey, Hajime, come look at this table."

He walked up "What's going on here."

"This blood is dry... but when we came in Sonia's table still had drops running off it."

"And?"

"And this glove shows signs of being used to write the bloody message. There's some blood splattered on the back side, but a lot of blood is concentrated on the pointer finger's tip. And it's still damp."

"I see."

Hajime moved along, beginning to study the papers that were scattered about the leftmost table.

On the very top was the pamphlet describing Jabberwock island, with a white paper sticking out of it. He pulled it out, and it read. " _Sonia, we need to talk. Please look at the enclosed photo and meet in the library at 9:30 this morning.- Gundam_."

Hajime quirked an eyebrow about this. Gundam asked to meet Sonia in the library? He would have to ask the Animal Breeder about that later on. For now, he pocketed the note as evidence and proceeded with the search through the papers. There was an article in it as well, half torn up but still mostly readable. About the serial killer Sonia was talking about earlier. Sparking Justice. Reading it, most of the scenes it described looked exactly like the murder scene here. A mask depicting a cartoon hero left nearby the victim left as a calling card. This meant that whoever this killer was, might be among us. Hajime saved this for later too.

Hajime moved outside after concluding that there were other scenes necessary to investigate to piece everything together. The first of these was to find Gundam Tanaka and ask him what he knew about the incident, as he was clearly involved with it rather intimately.

Gundam was being tended to by Mikan and Shinobu in the parking lot of the diner where he had been discovered unconscious. It seems now that he was perfectly alert and speaking to them, though he was not moving his body at all other than his head, which he swiveled occasionally to look directly at the person he was addressing, and then to watch Hajime as he made his way to the group.

"Mortal Hinata, I thank you for finding me in time. The secretariat and the nursing one have told me just about everything, for I remember it not."

"Everything huh?" Hajime prodded.

"Yes..." Gundam looked saddened. "It is to my understanding that I now have forgotten most of the last twenty-four hours, and I have been informed of the passing of Miss Sonia Nevermind. Which all of you are now investigating. I wish I could be of service here, but alas in my amnesia and current state I am of no use."

Hajime turned to Mikan. "What does he mean?"

The nurse held her hands together, shaking. "H-he um, well, we ran preliminary tests and it appears he consumed a neurotoxin that causes memory loss and paralysis, and d-d-death if consumed in the right amounts. It looks like he fell under that threshold though and passed out prior to consuming a lethal dosage. B-but the side-effects are already evident."

"Do you think that the killer was trying to murder him too?" Hajime asked the nurse.

"W-well, Shinobu and I were discussing that with him and Gundam said that even if the killer did make him a target that he doesn't remember what they looked like. Th-though there was... that paper."

Pushing further he got Mikan to show him the paper Gundam had in his pocket at the time of the attack against him. It read: _Gundam, there is something I must discuss with you in the diner, please meet me around 10, and not a moment later. Though if you're early I see no problem.- Sonia"_

This was a lot like the one addressed to the other victim, Sonia, however it was for the other person, which was pretty odd. And that wasn't the only difference. This one said that it was fine if the target came prior to ten but ominously warned that he shouldn't arrive late. The other note didn't specify these things, and stated that the meeting time was to be at 9:30, before the murder and attempted killing happened.

Hajime thanked the three of them for their help and turned to go. But then Mikan grabbed his shoulder and told him to wait. "O-oh yeah, I almost forgot. Y-you should p-probably go and investigate the Pharmacy for me. I didn't look hard enough but I think the ingredients used in the toxin may have been in there. There was this unlabelled bottle on the ground."

Hajime nodded and made that next on his list since it was on the same island, he would just need to go check out what the deal with the video game in the Jabberwock Park was later in his investigation. At the pharmacy he saw Ryota investigating the shelves. Upon going inside he found out Mikan's gut feeling was right, as it became obvious several different bottles went missing between yesterday's inventory check and today's incident.

"F-from the labels here," the timid boy explained, "on the shelf labels it says there was Anesthetic, Aspirin, and a-some other thing I can't even h-hope to p-pronounce. it should be 3 bottles in total."

Hajime knew for a fact that the two incidents were related, and had a growing feeling that the game and someone he had gotten to know and trust held the answer as to why this happened. He knew he had to go to that person once he got a clearer picture of how he was involved with Sonia's death...

\----------------

 He went back to the central island and met with Chiaki, who told him about the "secret cheat code" that would allow him access to the hidden days of this game. He pressed start after entering the code and got the same warning about it being based on true events, but this time when the music started up it loaded "DAY 2"

Girl C, whom he remembered from his previous time playing as the girlfriend of Guy A, was talking to a new character. She was dubbed 'Girl D'.

D: Well, I can just beat the guy up, call me if anything happens with him ya hear?

C: O-oh no, you don't need to beat him up at all, but scare him a bit. I'm not sure why he won't back off.

Girl D walked off screen, and Guy B walks back on screen from the other side. He greets her, seeming to want to flirt.

C: A-ah! Dude!

B: What's wrong?

C: Will you just 'screw off' already?

B: S-screw off?!

C: Yes! You've been acting like this ever since I said I was dating A! I don't like what's been happening to you!

B started to get angry back, going off on a tirade.

B: AAAAH

B: Of course I've been acting this way

B: You don't even see me for me any more, A is clouding your judgement

C: N-now... please don't go there!

B: You, maybe you weren't even...

C: What was that?

B: Maybe those rumors were true...

C: The rumors?

B: Yes, you know exactly what I mean. I'm sure A won't like it when he figures out what you're really like.

C: Really like?

B: Yeah, a little birdy had tried talking me out of going out with you because of this... maybe this is my fault for not believing them.

C: A little birdy? B, stop this...

B: Oh no... oh no, I'm not going to stop this. Not until this ends.

C: Stop, you're scaring me. W-why are you believing these things about me? Don't touch me!

A sprite animation played, it looked as though B spit up something that landed on C's face. She became more flustered and shrieked out for help as he slowly approached her, which is when A immediately stepped in and took her away, leaving B with a strong glare.

B: Of course... he really is a lot like me... I didn't want to think of it that way, but _she_ was correct. The two of us don't want to believe a princess can be a monster. Or that they can transform those around them into monsters of the same caliber.

The Second Day then ended, and the screen flickered off, he turned to Chiaki but she just insisted he keep his eye on the screen and hands on the joystick and buttons.

Sure enough when he looked back, Day 4 began.

It showed A, C, D, and E now, standing around in what appeared to be a hospital. Hajime took control of Girl C, and moved her towards the hospital door and past her group of friends, trying to get inside a room with a small window as the game instructed him to. However he learned he could only peak through the window. Inside he could see a bed with what appeared to be Guy B connected to a series of tubes laying there and a small crying sound playing from the speakers.

C was pulled back to hall view and he moved to to go and talk to everybody else in the hallway.

C: I can't believe this is actually happening, is this normal for high school drama here?

A: ...

D: ...

E ...No.

C: Do you think that... that his note was accurate? Do you guys think he blames me?

E: B is just a dumbass, he showered me with his drivel yesterday, if he's really killing himself that's on him.

A: I agree. B has a lot of unresolved problems. We shouldn't worry what a low-level mortal thinks about rumors and drama.

C: Sh-shut up!

The scene unfolding took another turn. C pushed A up against the wall viciously and slapped him across the face.

C: He was weird, and he might creep me out. B-but B is still a friend, you shouldn't talk about him like this!

A: Wh-what?! Even after all he tried to hurt you with?

C: If you can't see how you're acting exactly like him then...

A: Then what? Answer me girl!

C: Then we'll have to break up.

And then the conversation ended and an arrow pointed off screen to an exit. Hajime followed it and sent Girl C on her way.

D: ...wow, I never thought she'd have the guts.

E: Yeah. All of this is so dumb. This is why I don't socialize with any of you people.

A broke down on the floor after standing in shock, on his knees a sob emanated from the speakers, as though Hajime was right there in the hallway with all of them. The next screen was a blue "You Win" message, "Game Over" the machine said.

This incident served as the motive. And he was about ready to turn away, Nanami telling him to look at the screen one final time as it rolled the credits.

\-----------

Tanaka

Souda

Nevermind

Owari

Matsuda

Kamukura

\----------

All of the names on these credits were people Hajime knew, except for the last one, that one stood out to him. Who is Kamukura? Is he somewhere on this island? Is he the mastermind? Chiaki pulled him away from the game and Monokuma walked up to the duo.

"Oh hey, looks like you beat the game! Sorry, but the prize has already been claimed by somebody else!" the headmaster said.

"Oh, that's okay. I think we figured out enough. Right Hajime?"

He couldn't help but hope so. If that game didn't tell them everything they needed for background then the two of them just wasted a lot of time doing nothing.

As the final step they gathered the four people featured in the game, as they couldn't talk to Sonia (the Victim) or Kamukura (they didn't know who that was) about it, those were the only candidates that could possibly have held a motive to kill after playing a game like that.

Gundam Tanaka was Guy A, Kazuichi Souda was Guy B, Akane Owari was Girl D, and Yasuke Matsuda was Guy E. Hajime and Chiaki gathered these four at the airport under the pretense that they wanted to know if they saw anything strange. And the quicker of them (Matsuda) figured out almost instantly that it was about the game.

Tanaka was brought to the airport by Mikan in a wheelchair, as the poison had robbed him of the use of his legs and one arm. The Devas were sat on his lap, snuggling up against him.

"You summoned the Great Gundam Tanaka?" the breeder announced his presence loudly before devolving into a fit of coughing.

"To cut to the chase yes. All of the people gathered here were mentioned as part of the videogame, the other person was this cases victim."

"Sonia was in the game?" Gundam asked.

"Wait, I was in this game too, what did I do in it?" Akane added, totally clueless.

Chiaki explained to her that she was in the game trying to help Sonia and threatening to beat up someone that had been bothering the Princess.

"Ah... I don't remember ever having done something like that... but it does sound like something I'd say, I'll have to admit."

A bit more talking to Akane turned up testimony that she heard two men arguing outside her cabin at night while she she was having trouble going to sleep. Out of all the people here, Hajime decided based on what she said she was the least likely to be the killer and thanked her for information.

Next Mikan bothered him and told him that Gundam remembered something vague.

And this is what he said: "I can gather that saying this might make me suspect, but I remember playing a little bit of the game. I remember that it was about a couple that broke up after an incident where someone tried to kill himself. Sadly, I do not recall anything else."

Hajime moved on, reaching Kaz, who was blowing his nose. "Is this about the game? I heard you talking to Gundam and Akane about it." the mechanic sniffled, "I was told that there was incriminating evidence that Miss Sonia was a terrible person and that lead to this Sparkling Justice character to try and blackmail a bunch of people connected to the incident before wigging out on them and murdering Miss Sonia.

He took note of all the testimony to this point, and it added up, a picture was forming. Now, all he needed to do was find Yasuke's connection to this.

That plan was changed last second when Monokuma declared the investigation period over. Hajime cursed internally, he didn't feel like he was ready to solve anything right now. As soon as the announcement came, Yasuke promptly left the airport and headed to the Monokuma rock like they were told to.

The rest followed suit and after shuffling inside, Hajime's breathe quickened. They were descending right now into the courtroom where they would solve this mystery.

Sonia Nevermind was murdered, and Gundam Tanaka was paralyzed, perhaps permanently rendered ill and left out to die, just barely saved. And the person, the blackened, that was responsible for the series of events that took this toll was one of his own classmates. One of his classmates that was in the elevator right this moment. He looked at the worry on many's faces, only to be caught off guard and inspired by the few faces of determination.

Byakuya Togami, their class president was unfazed by the trial. And wearing a similar expression was Yasuke. Yasuke, the Ultimate Neurologist, always snarky and always hot-temperedd and rebellious. As well as those two, there was Chiaki, standing calm and resolute. And Nagito, who took him aside in this elevator to comment on this, smiling.

"Hajime, something truly beautiful will happen at this trial, don't you think? This is the real deal, this blows what I did out of the water! This is for real!" the white-haired boy kept rambling, and it annoyed Hajime but he kept listening. "I'm telling you right now, Hajime, do not feel sad at the end result of this trial. This trial is what this game is all about. Two vast hopes are about to clash in the courtroom, and whichever hope is strongest will be the hope that wins out. Today we are seeing who will shine brightest!"

As the doors opened and light filled the small metal box, Nagito was laughing. Nagito was laughing and it filled Hajime with determination to solve this case and find the one responsible. Sonia was an odd one, a foreigner, but she was always joyful and happy to befriend people regardless of their quirks or personality flaws. She projected an aura befitting of royalty, and even cared enough to join the common people (Well, if you could call Ultimates "Common people" that is). And the blackened is the one that took her life... and Hajime was going to unravel their plan to save the rest of the class from meeting the same fate as the Princess.

The class trial was now in session!

[SURVIVORS: 17 of 20]


	11. Free Time Events: Shinobu Togami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the chapter title suggests, here are the Free Time Events with Shinobu Togami, Ultimate Secretary.

#1

 Hajime approached Shinobu, who was busy writing notes in the middle of the Rocket Punch Market. She was one of the island's more quiet residents. And she generally was seen in the company of her brother, so Hajime looked around to see if he was present to for a quick moment.

"Looking for Byakuya?" she asked, flashing him a smile.

"O-oh uh..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's just that..."

"That we're normally seen together?"

"Well, yeah."

She giggled. "Oh, it's okay. It's not like he would kill me for talking to you. Byakuya really isn't that type of guy, I mean. You'll probably get to know him pretty well here. He talks very highly of your potential, you know?"

"H-he does?" he could feel himself turning red.

"Mhmm. He would have picked you out for a spot on the council if I weren't here with you guys."

"That seems a little bit like cronyism." Hajime snarked.

"Oh, he knows. But its not like their are laws against that here." she smiled. "Besides. It's for the best. Considering I can write exponentially more words per minute than the average high school student."

The two of them just laughed this off, she seemed to take his barb rather well.

He decided to hang out with her a little bit more, and wound up giving her a bottle of water for her time.

"Ah, a gift for me?" she quirked her head to the side. "Thanks."

He came out of their conversation with a good opinion of Miss Togami.

\---------------

#2

 Hajime ran into Shinobu during his free time again, this time in the middle of the Jabberwock Park, as she seemed to be taking notes about the countdown time. Her pen scratching up the page on her notepad ferociously.

She peeked up from her work and set her eyes towards him. "Hello again Hajime."

He greeted her back.

She shoved her notes into his hands. "Here, tell me what you think about my notes. I have been considering many different theories about what this countdown timer could be about and why it is here."

She made him read through it during there time together in the park, and he gave her another present, knowing that she'd probably need some more paper for writing he had picked up a packet of college ruled notebook paper.

There were quite a lot of possibilities. It could be a decoy or a bomb. And the possibilities for why Monokuma would put either of these things in place were far more numerous. And Hajime couldn't help but appreciate the beautiful penmanship each letter in each word of the explanation had. And eventually it didn't really matter to him whether it was meant as a way to get the students more pesperate so they start killing sooner and at a faster rate or not...

They discussed this sitting on the grass underneath the waves of heat from the ever-present sun. It was during this time Hajime remembered that there never was any rain here. And eventually Shinobu had to leave and get back to Student Council Business, Hajime bid her farewell for the day.

The relationships he was forming now almost made it worth being in this predicament. If he had to die here, at least he'd do it surrounded by good friends.

\--------------

#3

Hajime started his prowl around the island to find someone to spend free time with, but it seems that he was found by someone else to spend their free time with before he could decide on that matter. Shinobu Togami had appeared just outside of the cabin area and practically assailed him to gain his attention.

"You've spent some time with Byakuya right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"It's... oh it's nothing. He seems to be..."

"Seems to be what?"

She gave in and took the man to the park in order to avoid other people while the discussed something that was seemingly important and top secret to her.

"Alright, here's the deal. I've asked Byakuya about certain things from our childhood and he doesn't seem to remember. So I have a working theory that you and him are both afflicted with advanced versions of the amnesia that our entire class is suffering from."

"Advanced forms huh?" Hajime questioned.

And as usual, the woman in front of him had notes about this kind of thing.

The theory goes that not only did the past couple of years worth in school memories were taken away, but that there were certain people who were so dangerous to Monokuma's plans if they remembered certain things about themselves that the mastermind behind the bear, the rabbit, and the killing game could have their plans ruined.

It could have something to do with the identity of the mastermind, or talents that these people possessed that if awakened would end all despair.

"Somebody on this island could be an Ultimate Hope to end the Ultimate Despair that is the Mastermind... Nagito, he's an odd duck but I think his theory about that is spot on. He's very intelligent, quite possibly moreso than anybody else on this island right now."

It was a bit odd to hear another classmate speak well of him, but Hajime thought she was likely right about Nagito.

They changed subjects to something a little less unsettling and he learned about her taste in literature leaned almost entirely towards non-fiction writings, but that she had a soft spot for detective fiction. The conversation went through several different twists and turns, and Hajime took note of her tendency to wander from topic to topic when given enough time.

Once again Shinobu left him by declaring that she needed to go do her job as the Class Secretary.

\------------

#4

Hajime found Shinobu out by the movie theater, and he had a feeling that today could be a rather important day. She greeted him with a wave indicating she was happy, but the way she was staring at him seemed to indicated she was determined about something.

During the long and winding conversation he would hold with her during their time in the lobby of the theater he would come to learn details about her and Byakuya's family that even the Ultimate Affluent Progeny had been reluctant to speak about.

From how she told things, it was very rare for a relationship like theirs to be formed, and it all happened by chance. When she was assigned to be an underling for him and they were both sent off to Hope's Peak because they were scouted for their talents. It was in their preparations for this that it formed.

She told him that none of the other siblings were like this, and that it was more of a rivalry and contest of one-ups-man-ship that would lead to the weakest links being kicked out of the family, that being on good terms wasn't encouraged, save for being cordial when needing to coordinate assets with the other branches of their family's business empire.

By what he thought was the end of it, Hajime thought he understood a little bit better about what their lives were like.

But then as she turned to leave Shinobu took him by the ear and dropped something cryptic that shattered that all.

"But only a Togami like myself knows about that."

She didn't mention Byakuya alongside herself like she normally would. Weird. Was this about the "amnesia" or has she found out something deeper?

\-------------

#5

Hajime was about to collect all of the hope shards for Shinobu. He felt good about spending time with her. Over this time he had gotten to know her as someone who was particularly loyal and she always had her wits about her. It was like the two of them were meant to be friends... but also maybe more... he wondered if they would have met had Miss Monomi and Mister Monokuma not interfered with their school lives.

She took him out to watch the sun lower from its point in the sky down towards the horizon. This felt near perfection. "If I die and when I die, what would you do Hajime?" she asked him.

He stuck his finger in the sand and doodled a circle, humming in concentration.

He finally had to admit he wasn't sure.

She held her legs close to herself and stared off into the distance. "Well, whatever it is, you better miss me."

He mentally kicked himself. It was obvious what the answer she wanted was. "I'm sure that I will."

And then she leaned in and kissed him on the nose. He blushed and may have given a peck back before her duties called yet again.

\------------

[EARNED: Shinobu's Undergarments]


	12. Chapter 2 Class Trial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime and his friends must solve the mystery surrounding the murder of Sonia Nevermind and the attempt on the life of Gundam Tanaka. When found out, the killer gives their side of the story before their execution, and as if this day hasn't seen enough tragedy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah there this took a while. I wrote a bit every day for a while at first, but then got caught up in other stuff and forgot to actually polish it off and get it done for the past couple of weeks. I didn't mean to take so long.
> 
> Just updating to let you guys know I'm a) not dead, and b) have not quit on you. I'm just slow as a snail.
> 
> Speaking of things I forgot, I have a LiveJournal (upnerdao3) that I have not updated in a while either that I need to get back to. So if you are also on that site, you can use that as another way to contact me. (Though it probably won't be as reliable as a comment on my writing here directly)
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy darlings. I hope it was worth me putting off.

Monokuma began the class trial the very second we all stood at our podiums, now joined by the crossed out visage of the Ultimate Team Manager and the Ultimate Princess, just as the Ultimate Class President had one during the first trial. The headmaster explained the rules, exactly the same way that he explained them last time. If the class voted for the correct culprit then the murderer would be executed, and if the class chose incorrectly, the murderer would be allowed freedom and the rest would be sentenced to death in their stead.

It was disgusting how he was treating people's lives like playthings for his own enjoyment this way. But alas, there was no choice but to obey.

Byakuya was the first student to speak up in this trial. "Alright, to understand what has happened this morning we must start with the most basic information."

Shinobu nodded in agreement. "And all of that information has been provided in the Monokuma file for our victim."

All eyes turned to Gundam Tanaka. "The victim, her name was Sonia Nevermind. I've read the file and it claims her time of death to be just after 10 AM."

Mikan shuttered, squealing, "Y-yes. That is the case. She died from a fractured skull."

Gundam shook his head lightly, the only movement it seemed he was capable of anymore. "If I could have done anything to intervene I would have, but people have told me my current state was caused by the same person that killed Princess Sonia. They no doubt had it set it up so that I would be unable to do anything."

Yasuke spoke sharply to him, albeit surprisingly prefaced with an apology. "I know... sorry, I know you've been harmed, but can you cut out the pity party shit? I liked your faux-badass Schick better than your current one. If you don't think you can contribute to this trial just sit there quietly and listen, or if you don't want to listen just space out." And in turn, he too was reprimanded, by Byakuya.

"That's enough out of you. You could have phrased that better. But going into any more depth there would derail the trial. Now, Hajime, if you would please continue establishing the base facts for us."

Mikan looked like she wanted speak up about how she was the one interrupted by this tangent, but she didn't bother. The silence was grating so the spikey-haired protagonist just did as he was ordered. "From looking at the scene, it became obvious the weapon to kill Sonia was the blood-covered metal baseball bat."

The resident animator, asked a question through his trepidation  "Y-yeah, so... so the killer hit her with a baseball bat at around 10... and then what?"

"And then..." Hajime stopped to think, and found out he wasn't sure what. His mind had just drawn a total blank.

Yasuke stepped in, "And so this is our first problem. We know the very basics of the killing, but the events before and after are in need of expanding upon. I suggest we start with what was happening when the victims in this case were discovered."

"Ah!" Hajime exclaimed, "That's right. So, before I knew the murder had happened I was heading up to the diner to meet with Teruteru to see what he wanted to talk about. I headed over there just before 10 o'clock and the chef was already there."

The short man nodded furiously. "Yes, yes. I was already there." he steepled his fingers together. "I uh, I went early to make sure that Hajime would get there on time, but instead I stumbled upon Gundam, who I assumed had already b... had already been killed."

Using that as more of a base to establish facts, Hajime continued, "And when would you say that was?"

The chef sighed. "Well... reading the Monokuma file... I found him the same time the actual murder happened. Just a few past ten. I saw it up on the clock, I did." he stated, gentlemanly bowing and running his comb through his locks of hair.

"Huh." Nagito pondered this. "Wll that's interesting..."

"Are you saying you don't believe him?" Hajime asked.

"Oh, no, I definitely believe it. I'm just taking note of it for later. And I think you should as well, your talent will definitely help..." Nagito trailed that sentence off with a small shake of his head and laughter. "If you remember it."

"Putting that shit aside..." Yasuke said. "That means that at the time the murder happened there was already a victim to be found elsewhere."

Ryota stammered, asking "D-do you think that was done on purpose?"

Byakuya pondered it. "Possibly, but I think I know the main point that this is probably leading to."

"Oh, and what's that?" smirked Yasuke.

"That anybody on the second island at the time of the two incidents is automatically suspicious."

"Huh, so you are actually on my wavelength right now." He turned to Hajime, "So, aside from Teruteru, who else did you meet after finding Gundam?"

Aside from Teruteru there was Peko, Mahiru, Hiyoko, Byakuya, Shinobu, and Kazuichi meeting in the aftermath.

"So, I'd like all of those people to give us alibis." Yasuke stated. "That includes you too by the way, Hajime. I can never be too careful about this."

It was easier for some to back up their claims than others. Mahiru and Hiyoko had been together the whole time and were planning on going to the beach as part of a relaxtion period with a couple other girls. Byakuya and Shinobu backed each other up, both were in the park up until crossing the bridge as part of a safety patrol. (This lead to some bickering between those two and Yasuke as the neurologist seemingly implied they could have done it and are just protecting each other, Kazuichi stepping in to say he could confirm their alibi) Kazuichi's was that he wanted to know where Sonia was, so he hitched onto the Togami's patrol group near the bridge.

There was a back and forth volley of people checking and double checking where all of the classmates were, it was getting confusing until a chart was created by Shinobu to list down the claimed alibis. This should prove to be a most helpful bit of documentation. According to the secretary's watch, they got to the island around the time that Hajime found Teruteru and Gundam.

Hajime almost zoned out personally until he caught wind of the next bit of important information. Today was one long and painful, even for a day trapped on an island like this one.

People were discussing the meeting between the two victims of the case now. There seemed to be indicators that Gundam and Sonia had a meeting, or at least attempted to set up such a meeting.

Hajime had been the one to discover the first of these two notes initially, and produced the paper once asked to by Chiaki and the rest.

The class soon learned about the notes that both had received before the incident. After noticing an inconsistency in the meeting times (one had been in a completely different place), it was suggested that  they were not letters to each other, but forged documents created by the killer in order to set a trap and isolate to people to slaughter.

This line of discussion clearly did not sit well with one of our students. One who had been more silent than usual. He clearly wanted all of us convinced that the killer being the writer of the letters didn't necessarily mean one of the concerned parties was absolved of guilt. As he thought one of the victims and the perpetrator were in fact, the same person.

"Gundam..." Kazuichi said, face serious. "Gundam Tanaka, I've had to hold back saying this until I had better evidence..." he looked down, lurching over his podium. "You monster, I knew it was you, you were the murderer!" tears began pouring from his eyes, hitting the wood of the floor. "What motive could you possibly have had for something like this? Why didn't you just kill me instead?!"

Hajime took note, the mystery seemed to be solving itself right now in his mind. He wasn't perfect at gaging the others sometimes, but it seemed like a couple of the smartest members had already taken note of how suspicious this sharp turn was already.

Meanwhile, the paralyzed breeder sighed and coughed lightly. "Kazuichi. I have... I honestly have not a single idea as to why you think it was me".

"Tanaka, the evidence for you meeting her is here now in these notes, she's dead and you tried to kill yourself. I get it. Whatever you saw in that game... please tell us."

"I saw nothing in the game, as I have never even played it!"

"Bullshit!"

"I can attest certainly that..."

The spat was interrupted by Shinobu, with the secretary playing mediator, imploring that they calm down, telling Gundam to try and remember, and forcing Kazuichi to act more restrained.

Gundam couldn't answer, his mind, he claimed, felt completely blank. And he confessed that his deepest worry is that the mechanic may be correct in his assessment.

"But doesn't that seem... suspicious?" interjected everyone's (least) favorite hope freak.

"Suspicious?" asked Nanami, finger tapping her chin and biting her lip.

"Yes. And I just... I can't stomach how off this is..."

"Stomach?" Akane asked, perking up and likely thinking of food instead of anything remotely relevant.

"Hmmm, no, this won't do at all..." Nagito sighed, hand on his forehead. "Really, it won't."

"Excuse me, but what are you going on about now, you make me want to hit you." Akane said, cupping a fist with her other hand menacingly.

"Ah no, it's just that Gundam isn't in his best shape. His hope is too weak. So, he can't refute the accusations properly."

"Defending the murderer huh?" Kazuichi's eye pierced into Nagito, "Of course you would, you're just as fucked up as he is and don't understand how wrong it is to take such a beautiful life."

"Prove it." Chiaki said, interrupting the Mechanic's tirade. "Conclusively too, please. I won't take anything less than solid, undeniable victory for your theory."

 The pink haired man tilted his head at her before leaning over and slamming his hands against the podium. "Alright, do you want me to explain from step one why I think he set us all up and killed Sonia?"

And so it was decided, he'd go through all of what he knew about the case to try and persuade the skeptical students.

"So, it all begins with Gundam Tanaka playing the game. As someone that hasn't played this game, I can only assume it told him something he felt he needed to 'avenge' about me and the victim and our positive relationship. In other words, he was jealous. We were dating at one point, I just know it! But now..." he hunched over, sighing.

"Get on with it," barked the leader of the class, "Cut to the chase and leave all the theatrics out of it." This got a smirk out of Yasuke at least. Hajime wondered if he was missing anything. There was something going on with pretty much everyone in this trial that seemed off, even more than usual.

"Anyway," the mechanic said, perking up and adjusting his hat, "And she shunned him back in the day, according to that game. Because Gundam is a creepy weirdo. And would totally give us death stares. And he thinks that covering it up with this "justice" spiel will make him look better. Despicable."

Hajime had indeed played that game, and he knew that it was possible that the murderer would know the contents. Nanami had too. 

The gears began to click in place. "Actually, yes. That sounds like what I saw in the game between characters A, B, and C." Just reverse a pair of people and...

Kazuichi grinned, feeling that he had been validated. He continued. "And so, he wrote the note to Sonia, killed her, wrote a note to himself and then drank a poisonous mixture trying to kill himself and not only cover up his crimes, but also to avoid a potential execution."

Hajime decided to play along. "That makes sense with what we know, although..."

"Huh, actually..." Akane bit her lip, "the way this has played out, even with the way Kazuichi just described it... my gut says that Kazuichi did it."

[--Kaz redirects attention to the weapon (poison) used in the attempt on Gundam, argues Yasuke is the murderer and is Sparkling Justice]

"Me? Why would I ever kill Miss Sonia? That's ridiculous!" he seemed... unnerved.

"You definitely have a motive..." Chiaki said. "Knowing what rumors I read in the library about... certain practices, perhaps torturous in Novoselic and your own personal grudge as revealed in that game Hajime and I played, Guy B."

The mechanic refused to back down. "In that case you're trying to argue I was the one who attacked Gundam too! Since it's been established both acts were done by the same person!" His argument concluded with "How would I know what to use to poison him? I'm a mechanic, I don't do that kind of science!"

"Are you implying someone else would know?" Byakuya quirked an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, speak up Kaz!" Ibuki implored, backing up the president.

"Yeah, Yasuke Matsuda. He is Sparkling Justice after all. He's done stuff like this before. He's got quite the background, I suggest reading that article."

The president pushed his glasses back up his nose, breathing deeply, troubled.

After the debate thoroughly divided the class, grinding the trial to a standstill with no new evidence to reach a conclusion uncovered yet... All it was was a back and forth, and people drawing connections tenuously. A lot more accusations were flung than could be backed up well enough.

And then there was silence.

"Could... could we all die here?" worried Ryota.

"No." Yasuke said dryly. He snickered a bit. "We're fine. Because I've been keeping this hidden just for a point like this."

Byakuya had an outburst at him. "Really? You should give any and all conclusive evidence upfront! Don't scare us like this!"

He ignored the leader, shaking it off nonchalantly. "The so-called 'true' Sparkling Justice asked me to make the toxin, and I made him sign off on it in a contract."

Everyone was shocked, Yasuke continued.

"And they broke their end of the contract as soon as I was fingered as the so-called culprit. So in all honestly, I don't give a shit about what happens to him from this point forward. What's coming to him is what he deserved. Sparkling Justice dug his own grave." He produced a folded paper from his shirt pocket, reading it aloud before passing it off for Byakuya to examine personally.

"I can't.... I can't believe this. Sh-shinobu. Could Sparkling Justice be?"

"No, I read in his article that Sparkling Justice was a serial killer who lived in Spain. An entire continent and several time zones away from any of our students hometowns. In otherwise, Justice is not a Japanese person."

"Then that was a red herring huh... as I figured."

While Byakuya seemed shaken, sweaty, and tense due to the content of the paper he clutched in his meaty hands. A certain mechanic looked even worse off.

"How, how could you do this?" he muttered, appearing on the verge of tears.

Peko turned and asked him "How could you... try to say that about me? Is that what you were saying? Is he lying?"

"How could you betray my trust?" he said, "We were backed into a corner. And you wanted to do this to me the whole time."

Silence. Shocked silence, broken by a short blond Yakuza, "Y-yo, is this some kinda hit contract? Damn, this shit reminds me of home."

The culprit continued on as though he said nothing at all. "I showed you the contents of that envelope, you still have some of that too?"

Yasuke nodded, producing a newspaper clipping. And a picture.

"No, no fuck you. They already know, they don't need to see that stinkin' picture!" Kazuichi cried out while clutching his hat closer to his head and hunching over the podium. "This is crossing the line."

"Show the picture." Chiaki demanded. And so we all saw it, Kazuichi Souda laying in a hospital bed surrounded by flowers and "Get well soon" balloons, hooked up to an IV. Loose bandages wrapped over something that looked like a rope burn marking.

The screaming... the screaming of the killer stayed ringing in the courtroom long after it stopped. The screaming that evolved into a sobbing mess. Completely unintelligible. It nearly completely drowned out the sound of the Neurologist pulling out yet another piece of paper and reading out what sounded like a suicide note.

_I just can't take this any longer. Not this school, not this world. It is a cruel and unfair mistress, exactly like her. Fitting, since she was my life..._

"No more... no more... Monokuma. Hajime. Nagito. Anybody, please... make him stop, end this. All I wanted... I couldn't even get revenge."

\---------------------

Climax Return

The case all started when a certain person was introduced to the game "Be My Despair", which allegedly depicts events from our past school life. This certain person was the culprit, and they decided that after admiring the hardware they'd look at the software inside.

Pretty quickly they discovered the game revolved around them and several close associates. And it revealed that the victims of this case, Sonia Nevermind and Gundam Tanaka, had been dating; as well as the existence of various rumors regarding the Princess and her homeland. After beating the game, the culprit received the full details of those rumors, and discovered a suicide attempt related to this. Their own suicide attempt.

The killer also knew that Sonia had a fascination for serial killers, having been present while she spoke of the killers Genocide Jack and Sparkling Justice. So the killer took on the moniker of the latter and set it up to look like the infamous criminal was here on this island, but we have proven conclusively that Sparkling Justice is from a foreign country.

This imposter Sparkling Justice proceeded as planned with set-up, and asked another person involved with the game for help. This person was Yasuke Matsuda. Who the killer had shared information with, even giving copies of the material to him as proof their desire to kill was legitimate.

Yasuke was handed the materials by the culprit and decided to give them another idea. To use a potentially deadly toxin for the purpose of creating a second victim. He also kept the materials to later prove that this meeting happened.

After the culprit and Yauke met that night, the rest of it was spent by the murderer setting up the plot without interference from the rest of the class, who were all asleep.

They manipulated things so that Sonia would go to the library, expecting to meet Gundam, and Gundam would go to the diner expecting to meet with Sonia.

Gundam was met with first so the killer could easily frame him for the murder that was about to take place. The toxin was slipped into his drink while the culprit waited for him to return, complete with a disguise and mask. Gundam would later only remember this mask and the muffled sound it caused the killer's voice to have.

Next on his list was Sonia, who they introduced to the "Sparkling Justice" persona, and smashed her over the head with the bat.

The murderer then set up the scene that we would need to see to fall for the trap. They wrote the word Justice on a nearby table, and placed the mask next to the word.

They then slipped outside and looked around, they went back to the bridge to the second island and met with several of the others, pretending to be oblivious to the events that were taking place. Once this "alibi" was established, he went  to check on the other victim with that group.

Gundam was still alive though. And our culprit says they're worried about Sonia who went missing earlier, trying to reinforce the previous alibi to a new audience and escape capture.

Isn't that right,

Kazuichi Souda?

Souda broke down once again in tears. He truly was an absolute mess inside. Hajime wished he had the words to speak up about this, commentary alluding him.

It was Gundam who spoke, breaking the silence of the others.

"Some people tell themselves lies about the afterlife to make death more understandable to them. So it makes the world more comforting, less horrifying, particularly in times as rough as these we face. I know my time in this shell, this mortal coil... is limited, and I don't want to be like these people. These are fools.

One of the lies they tell is that they think the afterlife must be better than the life they were given, that it MUST be better than their time on our plane. And so they take steps to throw away their lives, some steps active and other steps passive, borne from a voice in the back of their minds, to go down a path of self-destruction and giving up on life. My Dark Devas and I do not understand the thought process of these people.

They decide to give up on the one thing they have been gifted, the ultimate gift of life. They wind up like our former comrade, Kazuichi Souda. This was not, as he claims, an act of revenge against us and Sonia in particular for our own lives sins, not entirely.

This was much more complex. Here we have a story of a man broken by suffering to the point he wanted to end it. This was a plan he concocted and asked for help with in order to do one thing, get himself caught. He was aware that this deed would not go unpunished."

He stopped, coughing blood up onto his shirt as he ended the sentence, his hamsters scattering up his arms to avoid it.

Shaking and choking back something more he continued "And it is because of this that I can feel nothing but the deepest form of pity for the killer. The pathetic shell of a man. He masked his motives so it would seem valiant of him to have done what he did, claiming the mantle of a vigilante by trying to make it look like they were on this island with us."

His body spasmed again in the chair, leaning to one side and almost falling out of it. "Let us begin the vote." he managed to croak out, readjusting himself.

Mikan squeaked out helplessly begging Gundam not to push himself any longer, and ran over to press his button for him.

All students voted, and the overwhelming majority of them chose the one person responsible for causing everything.

The slot machine did its thing, rolling and landing finally on the face of our culprit. It spewed Monokuma coins forward, ringing in victory.

_Kazuichi has been found Guilty!_

["Mechanical Error! A One-Man Horror Show!": The Execution of Kazuichi Souda]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_IhEOJb534

The execution began with Kazuichi working quickly on a line of cars that had a variety of problems in each of them. Engines, Transmission, windshield wipers, just any random thing that could go wrong with a car. They kept coming out at a faster rate from a conveyor belt controlled by Monokuma. Kazuichi tried his very best to keep up with each of these tasks. Until one of them came without warning and hit him.

And another one, and another one.

The cars all drove past, except junkers which just rolled away. And what was left under them was a bloody mess. His forehead caved in, his jumpsuit covered in dirty tracks of oil and blood. His arms clutched at his toolbox, which was open with its contents spilled out.

What remained of Kazuichi's face after his death looked like a face of relief.

And when the lights came on in the courthouse's mock-theater, Hajime turned to check up on Gundam Tanaka.

He was unmoving in his chair. He too was now dead, small smirk left on his face. Kazuichi's death was the last thing he had witnessed, and it was as though he was sending a message that he was okay with how things had turned out for everyone in this trial. Should there be an afterlife, Gundam Tanaka was now joining Sonia, and quite possibly Kazuichi too, in it. Reunited.

Mikan began to cry out, nudging him a few times before giving up, taking his hamsters into her arms. Tears streaming down her face. "I r-really t-tried my best to h-help him, please don't b-blame me for this, please, I don't want to get executed like Kaz-kazuichi! Waaaah. This isn't my fault..." she sniffed, "I promise..."

Mahiru took her arm. "We know you didn't want him to die. We saw everything you did to help him, okay Mikan?"

Hiyoko even stayed quiet, refraining from insulting the nurse like she normally did. She just kind of hovered around the two, looking at her own feet. Guess this trial was pretty rough for every survivor, on all fronts. Even the ones without a direct link to how the events played out.

Except Nagito, he was still interested in finding out more, since hope has apparently won twice in a row in his mind. "So, Monokuma, I have a question."

"Huh, you all are still here? Seriously?! What the hell are you kids waiting for? The execution ended a while ago, stop lingering!" he sounded annoyed.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I can't help but wonder. If Matsuda is technically the one who made the weapon that just now killed Gundam, does that mean he gets sent to execution now too, or is there going to be another trial for him?"

"Oh that's all? Nah, he was simply an accomplice to it all, everyone who was involved with actually murdering people was already put to death for their crimes. Killing him now would be like if I killed you after the first trial."

Nagito put a hand to his chin, "Oh, I see then. In that case it's fine for us to just go now!" He began smiling and laughing to himself.

But Monokuma kept going, complaining, "And besides, I'm a little executioned out. This one was particularly fun and brutal. So I don't think I have any up my sleeve that would be as good as a follow up, y'know?" The bear shrugged his shoulders and disappeared.

Matsuda was the first out the door. This was the second time. The second time someone that had gotten especially close to Hajime over the past several days on this island has taken actions that directly led to people's deaths, and for what purpose?

First it was Nagito for his worship of Hope. And now it was Yasuke assisting Kazuichi seemingly to put an end to a group of people that had particularly bothered him with their relationship drama. And with that, there was officially two outcasts, one could even say two traitors in the same amount of trials. Two "traitors" that have caused a total of 5 classmates to die for completely selfish reasons. Hajime knew the Neurologist as someone with a cold personality, however he never seemed like the kind of person to do what he did. How many of the others has Hajime misjudged?

...He went to sleep that night, feeling worse than ever. It felt like the despair was starting to get to him...

As though it were inviting a disease into him.

[SURVIVORS: 15/20]

\---------------------

MONOKUMA THEATER!

You know, treachery is one of those words that's easy to abuse. Same thing with its sibling, Betrayal. A lot of people go around calling each other out for it, yet they can never see themselves perpetrating it. In fact, I've seen many slights where someone betrayed another because they perceived their victim as the one who had actually betrayed them initially.

I guess what I'm saying is...

The Real Housewives of the Forrest is one of my favorite tv shows. And not just because I'm a bear!

\--------------------

[END OF CHAPTER TWO]


End file.
